BR  560  .N4  P3  1874 
Patten,  James  Alexander. 
Lives  of  the  clergy  of  New 
York  and  Brooklyn 


LIVES 


CLERGY  OF  NEW  YORK 


BROOKLYN: 


EMBRACING 


Two  Hundred  Biograpliies  of  Eminent  Liring  Men 
in  all  Denominations. 


ALSO,  THE 


HISTORY  OF  EACH  SECT  AND  CONGREGATION. 


BY 


J.  ALEXANDER  PATTEN. 


ILLUSTRATED   WITH  PORTRAITS  ON  STEEL. 


•'Lights  of  the  World,  and  Stars  of  Human  Race."— Cowper. 


NEW   YORK: 
ATLANTIC    PUBLISHING    COMPANY, 

1874. 


Enteeed,  Accqeding  to  Act  op  Congress,  in  the  teak  1874, 

By  J.  ALEXANDEK  FATTEN, 

IN  THE  Office  op  the  Librarian  of  CongBess,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE. 


Tins  volume  is  respectfully  presented  to  tlie  public  as 
the  result  of  mau}^  years  of  conscientious  labor.  A  collection 
of  the  biographical  facts  relating  to  the  clergy  of  the  cities  of 
New  York  and  Brooklyn,  and  of  the  historical  information 
concerning  the  different  sects  and  churches,  when  carried  to 
the  extent  of  the  present  work,  necessarily  involves  a  vast 
amount  of  research  and  time.  My  rule  has  been,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  each  clergyman,  and 
to  obtain  froTn  himself  tlie  facts  of  his  life,  and  then,  by  a 
tliorough  study  of  his  character  and  attendance  upon  his 
preaching,  to  prepare  myself  for  writing  the  personal  descrip- 
tions and  criticisms  which  are  leading  features  of  the  book.  I 
have  thus  taken  little  second-hand  information,  but  used  my 
own  original  facts,  and  the  opinions  formed  by  personal  ac- 
quaintance. The  plan  has  also  enabled  me  to  make  the  bio- 
graphies correct  in  their  stated  facts,  and  more  of  personal 
portraitures  tlian  is  possible  where  the  subjects  are  unknown 
to  the  biographer.  As  the  sketches  were  prepared,  they  ap- 
peared serially  in  two  forms  of  publication  (in  one  of  them 
weekly  for  several  years),  and  the  popularity  they  uuinterrupt- 
edly  enjoyed  Avas  an  assured  proof  of  their  fidelity  to  truth 
and  the  character  of  tlie  individuals.  It  also  led  to  their  ex- 
amination by  the  subjects  themselves,  and  the  pointing  out 
of  typographical  and  other  errors,  so  that  in  their  present 
form  the}^  are,  probably,  as  nearly  correct,  in  all  particulars, 
as  is  possible.  To  write  the  lives  of  living  men  is  a  delicate 
as  well  as  a  responsible  task,  and  I  can  justly  declare  that, 
while  I  have  drawn  very  close  portraits,  I  have  in  no  measure 
allowed  my  pen  to  be  the  vehicle  of  a  wound. 

Two   hundred  and  sixty-three  biographies  of  the  living 
clergy  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn  have  been  written.     Of 


IV.  PREFACE. 

tills  mimber  two  liundred  and  fourteen  were  originally  piib- 
lislied,  forty-nine  liave  since  been  prepared,  and  sixty-tliree 
persons  of  the  original  number  have  removed  to  other  places 
or  are  deceased,  leaving  two  hundred  as  the  number  in  the 
present  volume.  Several  of  those  included  have  died,  and 
others  removed  while  the  book  is  in  press,  but  these  are  ne- 
cessarily retained.  Eacli  of  the  sketches  serially  published 
has  been  revised,  largely  re- written,  and  brought  down  to 
date,  and  the  new  biographies  are  of  all  the  leading  clergy 
more  recently  called  to  the  pulpits  of  the  two  cities.  Great  care 
has  been  given  to  the  accuracy  of  the  historical  facts,  which 
will  be  found  reliable  and  useful  for  reference  in  relation  to 
the  different  sects  and  churches.  An  Appendix  furnishes 
various  statistical  tables  of  information  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  Extracts  from  Sermons  have  been  selected  to  show  the 
greatest  variety  in  style  of  thought  and  eloquence.  In  a 
word,  every  source  of  information,  in  individuals,  records, 
books,  and  newspapers,  has  been  diligently  made  use  of  in 
the  different  branches  of  the  work.  For  the  invariable  cour- 
tesy and  assistance  which  have  been  extended  to  me  in  all 
intercourse  and  investigations  of  this  nature,  I  now  express 
my  grateful  thanks.  In  concluding  this  review  of  the  manner 
in  which  I  have  performed  my  long  task,  I  venture  to  in- 
dulge the  hope  that  it  will  be  esteemed  worthy  of  contin- 
ued public  approbation. 

New  York,  1874. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Adams,  Eev.  Dr.  William 9 

Adler,  Eabbi  Dr.  Samuel 12 

Alexander,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  D 15 

Anderson,  Rev.  Dr.  Galusha 18 

Anderson,  Rev,  Dr.  Thomas  D 20 

Armitage,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 25 

Bancroft,  Rev.  Dr.  Lucius  W 32 

Beach,  Rev.  Dr.  Aifi-ed  B 34 

Beecher,  Rev.  Henry  Ward 37 

Bellows,  Eev.  Dr.  Henry  W 42 

Bjerrinf?,  Rev.  Nicholas  , 47 

Boole,  Rev.  William  H 49 

Booth,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  R 54 

Budington,  Rev.  Dr.  William  I 57 

Burchard,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  D 60 

Camp,  Rev.  Stephen  H 64 

Carroll,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Halsted 66 

Campbell,  Rev.  Gawu 71 

Carter,  Rev.  Dr.  Abram  B 74 

Carter,  Rev.  Samuel  T 77 

Chadwick,  Rev.  John  W 79 

Chambers,  Kev.  Dr.  Talbot  W 81 

Chapin,  Rev.  Dr.  Edwin  H 83 

Chapman.  Rev.  John  A.  M 88 

Cheever,  Rev.  Dr.  George  B. ..... .     90 

Clark,  Rev.  Dr.  Frederick  G 92 

Conkling,  Rev.  Nathaniel  W 95 

Conrad,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  K 98 

Cooke,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 102 

Cookman,  Rev.  John  E 106 

Corbit,  Rev.  William  P 109 

Cox,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H 112 

Coxe,  Right  Rev.  A.  Cleveland 116 

Crosby,  Rev.  Dr.  Howard 119 

Cummins,  Rev.  Dr.  George  D. . .    .  122 
Cuyler,  Rev.  Dr.  Theodore  L 124 

Dawson,  Rev.  William  C   128 

Deems,  Eev.  Dr.  Charles  F. 131 

De  Haas,  Rev.  Frank  S 135 

De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 138 

Diller,  Eev.  Dr.  Jacob  W 143 

Dix,  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan 146 

Dowliiig,  llev.  Dr.  John 149 

Draper,  Rev.  Dr.  George  B 152 

Drowne.  Rev. T.  Stafford 156 

Duffie,  Rev.  Dr.  ComeHus  R 160 

Duryea,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  T 1G2 

Eaton,  Rev.  Dr.  Theodore  A 166 

Einhorn,  Rabbi  Dr.  David 168 


PAOK 

Elder,  Rev.  Joseph  F 171 

Enyard,  Rev.  William  T 173 

Ewer,  Rev.  Dr.  Ferdinand  C 177 

Farley,  Rev.  Dr.  Frederick  A 180 

Farrell,  Rev.  Father  Thomas 182 

Ferris,  Eev.  Dr.  Isaac 184 

Flagg,  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  0 188 

Fletcher,  Rev.  Charles 193 

Forbes,  Rev.  Dr.  John  M 195 

Foster,Rev.  Bishop  Randolph  S.,DD  199 

Foss,  Eev.  CjTTus  D 202 

French,  Eev.  J.  Clement 205 

Frothingham,  Eev.  Octavius  B 208 

Fulton,  Eev.  Dr.  Justin  D 211 

Gallaher,  Eev.  Henrv  M 213 

Gallaudet,  Eev.  Dr.  Thomas 216 

Galleher,  Eev.  John  N 220 

Ganse.  Eev.  Dr.  Harvey  D 223 

Geer,  Eev.  Dr.  George  J  225 

Geissenhainer,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  W 228 

Gilts,  Eev.  Dr.  Chauncey 231 

Gillette,  Eev.  Dr.  A.  D 235 

GiUett,  Eev.  Dr.  Ezra  H 237 

Gottheil,  Eabbi  Dr.  Gustav 239 

Hall,  Eev.  Dr.  Charles  H 241 

Hall,  Eev.  Dr.  John 246 

Haight,  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  1 250 

Hamilton,  Eev.  Samuel  M 253 

Hanna,  Eev.  Thomas  A.  T 255 

Haskins,  Eev.  Dr.  Samuel  M 257 

Hastings,  Eev.  Dr.  Thomas  S 261 

Hecker,  Eev.  Father  Isaac  T 264 

Hepworth,  Eev.  George  H 266 

Holme,  Eev.  Dr,  J.  Stanford 270 

Houghton,  Eev.  Dr.  George  H 273 

Howland,  Eev.  Dr.  Eobert  S 276 

Hoyt,   Eev.  Wayland 279 

Huebsch,  Eabbi  Dr.  Adolphus 282 

Hunt,  Eev.  Dr.  Albert  S 285 

Button,  Eev.  Dr.  Mancius  S 287 

Ingersoll,  Rev.  Edward  P 289 

Inglis,  Rev.  Dr.  David 291 

Inskip,  Rev.  John  S 293 

Irving,  Eev.  Dr.  Theodore 296 

Isaacs,  Eabbi  Samuel  M 299 

Janes,Eev.BishopEdmund,S.,  D.D.  303 

Johnson,  Eev.  Daniel  V.  M 308 

Jutten,  Eev.  David  B 311 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Kimball,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph 313 

Krotel,  Rev.  Dr.  G.  Frederick 316 

Lawrence,  Kev.  Dr.  Francis  E 319 

Littlejohn,  Eight  Eev.  Dr.  A.  N. . .  322 

Lowry,  Eev.  Eobert 326 

Ludlow,  Eev.  Dr.  James  M 328 

Limdy,  Eev.  Dr.  John  P 331 

Lyman,  Eev.  Albert  J 333 

MacArthur,  Eev.  Eobert  S 335 

McCloskey,  Most  Eev.  Dr.  John. . .  337 

MeElroy,   Eev.  Dr.  Joseph 343 

McGlyim,  Eev.  Father  Edward,  D.D.  346 

McJilton,  Eev.  Dr.  John  N 350 

McLeod,  Eev.  Dr.  John  N 354 

McVickar,  Eev.  W.  Neilson 358 

Malone,  Eev.  Father  Sylvester, 361 

Mandeville,  Eev.  Dr.  G.  Henry 362 

Mikels,  Eev.  William   S 366 

Milbnrn,  Eev.  William  H 368 

Miller,  Eev.  Dr.  D.  Henry 373 

Mitchell,  Eev.  David. 375 

Montgomery,  Eev.  Dr.  Henry  E. . .  378 

Moore,  Eev.  Dr.  David 381 

Morgan,  Eev.  Dr.  William  F 383 

Morrill,  Eev.  Father  Charles  W 387 

Muhlenberg,  Eev.  Dr.  William  A..  391 
Murray,  Eev.  Dr.  James  0 395 

Newell,  Eev.  Dr.  William  W 399 

Northrop,  Eev.  Henry  D 402 

Ogilby,  Eev.  Dr.  Frederick 405 

Ormistou,  Eev.  Dr.  William 407 

Osborn,  Eev.  Dr.  Abraham  C 41 1 

Osgood,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 415 

Paddock,  Eev.  Dr.  John  A 417 

Paddock, Eight  Kev. Dr.  Benjamin  H.  419 

Partridge.  Eev.  Alfred  H. 421 

Paxton,  Eev.  Dr.  Wilham  M 423 

Pendleton,  Rev.  William  H 428 

Poraeroy,  Eev.  Charles  S 430 

Porter,  Eev.  Dr.  Elbert  S 432 

Potter,  Eight  Eev.  Dr.  Horatio 437 

Potter,  Eev.  Dr.  Henry  C 439 

Powers,  Eev.  Henry 442 

Prentiss,  Eev.  Dr.  George  L 445 

Preston,  Eev.  Father  Thomas  S. . ..  449 

Price,  Rev.    Dr.  Joseph  H 452 

Prime,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Ireneeus . . .  454 

Pulhnuu,  Eev.  James  M 456 

Putnam,  Eev.  Dr.  Alfred  P. 461 

Quackenbufih,  Rev.  Dr.  D.  McL. .  .  466 

Eeed,  Eev,  Dr.  Alexander 468 

Reid,  Eev,  William 471 

Eidgaway,  Eev.  Dr.  Henry  B 474 


PAGE 

Riley,   Rev.  Isaac 476 

Robinson,  Eev.  Dr.  Charles  S 479 

EockweU,  Eev.  Dr.  J.  Edson 483 

Rogers,  Rev.  Dr.  Ebenezer  P 487 

Rossiter,  Rev.  Stealy  B 489 

Rylance,  Rev.  Dr.  James  H 491 

Sabine,  Rev.  William  T 494 

Schaff,  Rev.  Dr.  Philip 496 

Schenck,  Rev,  Dr.  Noah  H 499 

Scott,  Rev.  Dr.  William  A 504 

Scudder,  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Martyn . .  508 

Seabury,  Rev.  William  J 510 

Seaver,  Eev.  Dr.  Norman 513 

Seymour,  Eev.  Dr.  George  F 515 

Shedd,  Eev.  Dr.  WiUiam  G.  T 519 

Sloss,  Eev.  Dr.  Eobert 520 

Smith,  Eev.  Dr.  John  Cotton   523 

Smith,  Eev.  Dr.  J.    Hyatt 527 

Snively,  Eev.  William  A 529 

Southgate,  Eight  Eev.  Dr.  H 531 

Spear,  Eev,  Dr.  Samuel  T 533 

Spring,  Eev.  Dr.  Gardiner 535 

Storrs,  Eev.  Dr.  Eichard  S 539 

Street,  Eev.  Thomas 542 

Stryker,  Eev.  Dr.  Peter 544 

Sweetser,  Eev.  Edwin  C 548 

Talmage,  Eev.  T.  De  Witt 550 

Taylor,  Eev.  Dr.  William  M 555 

Taylor,  Eev.  Dr.  Elisha  E.  L 559 

Thomas,  Eev.  Jesse  B 562 

Thompson,  Eev.  Dr.  Hugh  Miller..  565 
Thompson,  Eev.  Dr.  Alexander  E..  567 

Thompson,  Eev.  Dr,  Joseph  P 570 

Thomson,  Eev.  Dr.  John 573 

Thrall,  Eev.  George  E 576 

Tuttle,  Eev.  Dr.  Isaac  H 579 

Tyng,  Eev.  Dr.  Stephen  H 583 

Tyng,  Jr.,  Eev,  Dr.  Stephen  H. . . .  587 

Van  Dyke,  Eev.  Dr.  Henry  J 590 

Vermilye,  Eev.  Dr.  Thomas  E 593 

Verren,  Eev.  Dr.  Antoine 597 

Vidaver,  Eabbi  Dr.  Henry 601 

Vincent,  Eev.  Dr.  Marvin  E 603 

Washburn,  Eev.  Dr.  Edward  A. . . .  605 

Weed,  Rev.  Dr.  Levi  S   608 

Wells,  Rev.  Dr.  John  D 613 

Weston,  Rev.  Dr.  Sullivan  H 617 

Wild,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph 621 

Williams,  Rev.  Dr.  William  R 624 

Wilson,  Rev.  James  D 627 

Appendix 631 

Recent  Facts  and  changes 7 


EECENT   FACTS   AND   CHANGES. 

While  onr  volume  is  in  press,  various  recent  facts  and  changes, 
relating  to  the  clergy  who  are  included  in  it,  are  to  be  noticed  as 
follows :  — 

Eev.  Isaac  Ferris,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  died  June  16th,  1873,  in  his 
seventy-fifth  year. 

Kev.  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D.,  born  February  24th,  1785,  died 
August  18th,  1873,  in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 

Eev.  Antoine  Verren,  D.  D.,  born  in  1801,  died  March  17th, 
1874,  aged  seventy-three  years. 

Eev.  John  N.  McLeod,  D.  D.,  died  April  27th,  1874,  in  his  sixty- 
eighth  year. 

Eev.  Thomas  De  Witt,  D.  D.,  died  May  18th,  1874,  in  his  eighty- 
third  year. 

Eev.  Elisha  E.  L.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  died  August  18th,  1874,  in  the 
fift3^-ninth  year  of  his  age. 

Eev.  Henry  E.  Montgomery,  D.  D.,  died  October  15th,  1874,  in 
his  fifty-fourth  year. 

Eev.  Dr.  William  Adams,  having  been  elected  President  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  preached  his  farewell  ser- 
mon as  pastor  of  the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church,  on  Sun- 
day, April  19th.  1874.  His  inauguration  as  President  took  place 
on  the  occasion  of  the  thirty-eighth  anniversary  of  the  Seminary, 
May  11th,  1874.  Eev.  Dr.  George  L.  Prentiss,  formerly  of  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant,  New  York,  was  also  installed  as  Professor 
of  Pastoral  Theology,  Church  Polity,  and  Missionary  Work. 

The  new  edifice  of  the  Tompkins  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church, 
Brooklyn,  of  which  the  Eev.  Dr.  Frederick  G.  Clark  is  j^astor,  was 
dedicated  on  the  evening  of  February  12th,  1874. 

On  Sunday,  April  26th,  1874,  the  Kev.  William  F.  Sabine,  rec- 
tor of  the  Episcopal  Chui'ch  of  the  Atonement,  New  York,  preached 
a  sermon,  announcing  his  secession  fi-om  the  Protestant  Episcopal  to 
the  Eeformed  Episcopal  Church,  He  resigned  his  rectorship,  and 
oi'ganized  a  new  congregation,  who  hold  services  in  the  church,  on  the 
corner  of  Madison  avenue  and  Forty-seventh  street,  New  York. 

Eev.  Dr.  Samuel  Adler,  the  senior  pastor  of  the  Jewish  congre- 
gation Temjole  Emanuel,  has  been  retired  on  an  annuity  for  life. 

Eev.  Dr.  Henry   Vidavei-,  of   the   congregation  Bnai  Jeshurun, 


VIII 

New  Yorlc,  received  and  accepted  a  call  from  a  congregation  m 
San  Francisco,  California. 

Eev.  John  A.  M.  Chapman,  formerly  of  St.  John's  Methodist 
Church,  Brooklyn,  commenced  preaching  at  St.  Paul's,  New  York, 
on  Sunday,  September  6th,  1874. 

Eev.  Levi  S.  "Weed,  recently  of  the  John  Street  Methodist,  New 
York,  has  been  appointed  to  the  Carroll  Park  Church,  Brooklyn. 

Eev.  Octavius  B.  Frothingham  has  published  two  new  works, 
viz:  "The  Eeligion  of  Humanity,"  and  the  "Life  of  Theodore 
Parker," 

Eev.  Dr.  William  W.  Newell  has  resigned  the  pastorship  of  the 
Allen  Street  Presbyterian  Church. 

Eev.  Will'am  T.  Enyard  is  now  the  pastor  of  the  Eeformed 
Church,  Brighton  Heights,  Staten  Island,  New  York. 

Eev.  Dr.  Henry  B.  Eidgaway,  left  the  charge  of  St  James'  Meth- 
odist Church  (Harlem),  New  York,  for  an  extended  period  of  travel 
in  the  Holy  Land  :  Eev.  Dr.  Cyrus  D.  Foss  has  been  appointed  to 
St.  James'. 

Eev.  John  E.  Cookman  is  now  the  pastor  of  the  Tremont  Street 
Methodist  Church,  Boston,  Mass. 

Eev-  Henry  Powers  has  resigned  the  pastorship  of  the  Church 
of  the  Messiah  (Unitarian),  New  York. 

Eev.  Dr.  John  Dowling  has  retired  from  the  active  ministry. 

Eev.  Wayland  Hoyt  is  now  the  pastor  of  the  Shawmut  Avenue 
Baptist  Church,  Boston,  Mass. 

Lee  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn,  by  reason  of  its  adher- 
ence to  the  practice  of  open  communion,  was  dropped  from  the  list 
of  the  Long  Island  Association,  under  the  protest  of  its  pastor,  Eev. 
J.  Hyatt  Smith. 

The  confirmation  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  George  F.  Seymour,  as  Episco- 
pal Bishop  of  Illinois,  having  occasioned  an  issue  in  the  high  and 
low  church  question,  it  was  defeated  in  the  General  Convention. 


z:^^:*^^ 


'3 


REV.  WILLIAM  ADAMS,  D.  D., 

PJL&^TOl^^     OF     THU:     ]VC^X)ISO]V     SQXJA.KE     PRESBY. 
TEKIAiV    CHURCH,     TVETV    YORK. 


EV.  DR.  WILLIAM  ADAMS,  son  of  Jolm  Adams,  was 
born  at  Colchester,  Conn.,  in  1813.     When  an  infant  he 
was  taken  to  Andover,  Mass.,  where  his  father  became 
^  the  principal  of  an  academy.     The  elder  Adams  was  one 

^  of  the  most  celebrated  teachers  of  his  day,  and  had  among  his 
I  pupils  some  of  the  greatest  Bible  scholars  our  country  has 
produced.  Trained  by  his  father,  and  a  protege  of  Professor  Stuart, 
young  Adams  had  also  the  advantage  of  constant  association  with 
such  men  as  Judson,  Gordon  Hall,  Newell,  and  many  others.  As 
a  boy,  his  first  dollar  was  given  to  the  Missionary  cause.  He  settled 
at  Brighton  near  Boston,  where  his  ministry  was  successful.  The 
ill  health  of  his  wife  induced  him  to  come  to  the  city  of  New  York, 
to  pass  the  winter.  In  1840  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Broome  Street 
or  Central  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York,  and  for  many  years 
was  its  most  efficient  and  beloved  pastor. 

A  large  j)ortion  of  this  congregation,  who  thought  it  advisable  to 
remove  to  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  withdrew  with  Dr.  Adams,  in 
1853,  and  erected  an  elegant  churcli  edifice  on  the  corner  of  Madison 
avenue  and  Twenty-fourth  street,  and  became  known  as  the  Madison 
Square  Presbyterian  Church.  The  building  fronts  Madison  Square 
and  the  Fiftii  Avenue  Hotel,  and  all  its  surroundings  are  very  fine. 
It  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars,  all  of  which  came  from  voluntary  subscriptions.  The 
dedication  took  place  in  December,  1854.  The  congregation  has 
always  been  large,  and  now  numbers  many  of  the  most  influential 
men  of  the  city.  Being  unable  to  maintain  themselves  down-town, 
the  Central  Church  at  length  sold  their  building,  and  removed  to 
a  point  up-town  much  beyond  even  the  field  occupied  by  Dr. 
Adams. 

In  appearance,  Dr.  Adams  is  a  tall,  erect    finely-proportioned 


9 


REV.     WILLIAM     ADAMS,     D.  D. 

man,  going  down  the  decline  of  life,  but  still  hale  and  vigorous. 
He  has  regular,  well-defined  features,  and  a  cheerful,  intellectual 
face.  His  eyes  are  bright  and  penetrating,  his  mouth  is  expressive 
of  much  decision  of  character,  and  his  brow  has  not  less  of  physical 
symmetry  than  evidences  of  mental  endowment.  To  this  striking 
and  attractive  presence,  he  adds  manners  at  once  polished  and  fas- 
cinating. He  exhibits  an  easy,  becoming  dignity,  but  he  is  very 
affable  and  approachable,  being  so  finished  a  gentleman.  In  public 
and  private  his  bearing  is  marked  by  an  entire  self-possession,  and  a 
happy  adaptability  to  circumstances  and  persons.  He  has  a  genial, 
companionable  disposition,  and  none  save  ennobling  qualities  of 
heart. 

Dr.  Adams  has  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the  authorship 
of  occasional  sermons  and  addresses.  He  wields  an  eloquent  as  well 
as  a  learned  pen,  and  whatever  he  writes  is  worthy  of  p  rmanent 
preservation.  Much  that  he  has  written  has  been  printed,  and  en- 
joyed an  extended  circulation.  Among  his  books  may  be  named 
"The  Three  Gardens — Eden,  Gethsemane,  and  Paradise,"  and 
"Thanksgiving." 

His  lectures  on  the  "  Catacombs  of  Rome,"  delivered  to  a  crowded 
audience  in  Association  Hall,  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  ever 
given  to  a  New  York  audience.  Of  the  many  thousands  who  have 
visited  those  monuments  of  early  Christianity  in  the  Eternal  City, 
we  believe  Dr.  Adams  was  the  first  to  read  and  interpret  correctly 
the  Greek  and  Latin  inscriptions  on  them  ;  and  he  has  thus  furnished 
a  key  to  all  biblical  students,  whereby  the  mysteries  of  revelation 
and  the  facts  of  history  may  be  understood  and  appreciated. 

His  sermons  are  all  able,  and  show  his  great  theological  as  well 
as  literary  culture.  He  never  preaches  such  a  thing  as  an  indifferent 
sermon — it  is,  in  fact,  an  impossibility  with  him.  All  are  grand  in 
thought  and  majestic  in  eloquence.  While  he  does  not  turn  aside 
from  the  course  of  religious  argument,  he  interweaves  with  his  rea- 
soning attractive  cullings  from  literature  and  much  that  is  imaginative. 
Powerful  and  scholarly  arguments,  they  are  also  affecting  Christian 
appeals  to  sinners.  His  voice  is  mellow,  though  of  full  compass  for 
the  largest  building,  his  tall,  erect  figure  impaits  additional  impres- 
siveness  to  his  delivery  and  gestures.  He  is  equally  happy  as  an 
extemporaneous  speaker,  showing  a  remarkable  fluency  of  chaste, 
effective  language. 

Dr.  Adams  belongs  to  the  order  of  ministers  who  carry  dignity 

10 


KEY.      W  I  L  L  I  A  51     ADAMS,      D.  D. 

and  propriety  as  well  as  power  into  the  sacred  desk.  Tliej  are 
intellectual  men,  prepared  for  their  work  by  study,  experience,  and 
talents ;  and  the}"  are  consistent  men,  living  godly  lives,  and  main- 
taining the  dignity  as  well  as  the  purity  of  the  religious  life.  In  the 
light  of  their  abilities  ignorance  and  sin  shrink  away  abashed,  and 
confronted  with  their  force  and  influence  of  character  public  senti- 
ment is  arrested  and  controlled.  This  is  the  nature  of  the  position 
occupied  by  Dr.  Adams  in  his  denomination,  and  with  the  public  at 
large.  His  influence  is  at  all  times  commanding  and  wide  spread, 
and  he  stands  in  the  church  and  the  community  as  the  representative 
of  the  highest  religious,  moral  and  intellectual  power. 

Probably  the  pastoral  relations  of  Dr.  Adams  are  as  agreeable  as 
those  of  any  man  in  the  ministry.  He  is  admired  and  beloved  by 
his  people,  and  he  is  as  sincerely  attached  to  them.  They  belong  to 
a  cultivated  class,  and  he  has  the  pleasure  of  knowing  that  his 
learned  efforts  in  the  pulpit  are  not  thrown  away  on  un appreciative 
minds.  His  church  is  always  crowded,  and  there  is  no  want  of  reli- 
gious zeal.  He  is  also  very  comfortable  as  far  as  worldly  goods  are 
concerned,  as  his  own  personal  wealth  is  said  to  exceed  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  He  resides  in  a  tine  mansion  at  the  rear  of  the 
church  on  Twenty-fourth  sti'eet. 

Although  Dr.  Adams  has  now  grown  gray  in  the  ministry,  and 
although  his  efforts  have  always  been  incessant  and  zealous  in  the 
utmost  degree,  still  there  is  no  abatement  of  his  energ-ies,  and  most 
likely  will  not  be.  His  pride  is  to  be  in  the  harness,  and  to  make 
every  hour  useful  in  behalf  of  his  fellow-men.  Hence  he  goes  con- 
stantly among  his  people,  with  his  gentle  words  of  instructioi:, 
counsel  and  cheer;  and  he  teaches  in  his  pulpit  with  an  affectionate 
concern  for  his  hearers,  which  never  fails  in  impressing  the  most  un- 
concerned to  be  found  in  a  public  assemblage. 

11 


REY.  SAMUEL  ADLER,  PH.  D., 

RA-BBI     O:^    THE     TETVIPI^E      EM:A.]VtJElL.     COIVGRE- 


i^^EV.  DR.  SAMUEL  ABLER  was  bom  in  the  city  of 
^  Worms,  ou  the  Rhine,  in  1810.  He  is  a  son  of  the  late 
^  clistincxnished  Jacob  J.  Adler,  who  was  rabbi  of  the  con- 
gregation at  that  place.  He  commenced  the  study  of  the 
Hebrew  language,  the  Bible,  and  the  Talmud,  at  an  early  age, 
'  -'  under  the  superintendence  of  his  father.  At  fourteen,  the  death 
of  his  father  caused  him  to  leave  home,  and  repair  to  Frankfort-on- 
the-Maine,  there  to  pursue  his  studies  at  the  Talmudical  High 
School.  Later,  he  studied  under  t!^e  Rabbi  Bamburg  in  his  native 
town,  and  also,  by  his  own  exertions,  sought  to  iit  himself  for  the 
University.  From  1831  to  1836  he  frequented  the  Universities  of 
Bonn  and  Giessen.  The  study  of  philosophy,  and  especially  that  of 
Oriental  philology,  were  pursued  with  great  zeal  and  grasp  of  mind. 
In  the  spring  of  1836  he  returned  to  Worms,  where  he  was  at  once 
installed  as  preacher  and  religious  instructor  of  the  congregation,  to 
which  office  was  added  that  of  instructor  of  all  the  Jewisn  schools. 
He  now  first  appeared  as  the  champion  of  reform,  and  took  the  ear- 
liest steps  toward  the  purification  and  improvement  of  public  wor- 
ship among  the  Israelites  of  that  entire  section  of  country.  Quick 
to  seize  every  opportunity  to  inculcate  his  views,  he  awakened  great 
interest  in  his  proceedings,  and,  comparatively  young  as  he  was,  be- 
came a  man  of  commanding  influence. 

In  1842,  he  received  charge  of  the  rabbinical  district  of  Alzei,  an 
extensive,  and  as  yet  uncultivated  field  of  labor.  Such  was  the 
success  of  his  efforts,  that  in  a  few  years  the  whole  community  of 
Alzei  had  obtained  for  itself,  throughout  Germany,  a  name  which 
compared  favorably  with  that  of  the  richest  and  largest  congrega- 
tions. 

He  was  one  of  the  most   active  members  of  the  convocation  of 


German  Rabbins  of  1844-46.     In  1854,  he  accepted  an  enaragement 

12 


KEV.     SAMUEL     ABLER,     PH.  D. 

as  rabbi  and  preacher  of  the  Jewish  congregation  at  Limberg,  in 
Gralicia,  but  which  was  not  fulfilled,  by  reason  of  unforeseen  cir- 
cumstances. The  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Merzbacher,  rabbi  of  the 
Reform  congregation  of  the  Temple  Emanuel  in  New  York,  left 
an  important  vacancy,  which  Dr.  Adler  was  invited  to  till,  in  the 
fall  of  1856.  He  accepted,  and  is  still  discharging  the  duties  of  the 
position.  He  received  the  diploma  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  from  the 
University  of  Griessen.  The  Temple  Emanuel  congregation  was  or- 
ganized about  twenty-eight  years  ago,  and  is  now  one  of  great 
wealth  and  influence.  They  worship  in  a  synagogue  on  the  corner 
of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-third  Street,  which  is  not  excelled  in 
magnificence  by  any  church  or  other  building  of  the  city.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  organization,  there  were  only  fifteen  poor  men,  and 
the  first  preaching  was  in  a  room  of  a  private  house.  Afterward, 
preaching  was  held  in  Chrystie  street,  and  later,  a  handsome  syna- 
gogue was  opened  in  Twelfth  street  The  success  of  the  congrega- 
tion at  length  led  to  the  building  of  the  synagogue  on  Fifth  avenue, 
which  was  duly  consecrated,  September  11th,  1868.  This  structure 
cost,  with  the  ground,  between  six  and  seven  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  seats  some  eighteen  hundred  people. 

In  the  Jewish  temples  of  the  reform  school,  the  sexes  are  not 
seated  separately.  The  choir  is  accompanied  by  an  organ  or  melo- 
deon.  The  male  worshipers  in  the  orthodox  synagogues  wear 
their  hats  and  silk  praying  scarfs,  or  Taleths.  daring  service  ;  in  the 
reform  temples  they  do  not.  The  abandonment  of  the  old  ritual 
has  led  to  the  introduction  of  several  new  forms  of  prayer  and  em- 
bodiments of  principles,  which  have  frequently  only  local  accepta- 
tion. Thus  there  are  distinct  rituals  at  Cincinnati,  Baltimore,  San 
Francisco,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  other  cities.  The  reform 
movement  is  German  in  its  origin,  but  its  development  has  been 
American.  In  Europe  the  traditions  and  prejudices  of  the  people, 
combined  with  their  political  condition,  retard  such  a  reform :  while 
in  the  United  States,  free  institutions  and  their  teachings  have  pro- 
moted it.  The  first  reform  congregation  in  the  United  States  was  in 
Charleston  ;  but  there  are  now  some  forty  throughout  the  country. 
Dr.  Adler  revised  the  prayer  book  for  his  own  congregation,  and  by 
his  great  scholarship  has  given  influence  to  the  whole  movement. 

The  Jewish  clergy  are  generally  profound  men.  Their  studies 
are  thorough,  into  the  very  sources  of  theological  learning,  and  from 
both  inclination  and  habit,  these  laborious  investigations  are  contin- 

13 


REV.     SAMUEL     ABLER,     PH.  D. 

ued  as  long  as  they  live.  Superficial  study  is  distasteful  to  them, 
and  they  place  no  reliance  on  the  opinions  or  preaching  of  any  man 
who  does  not  first  prove  himself  worthy  of  attention  by  deep  and 
scholarly  preparation.  They  are  very  critical  and  close  in  their  esti- 
mate of  the  ability  of  each  other,  and  they  are  apt  to  treat  with  a 
sneer  the  presumed  learning  of  clergymen  of  Christian  sects.  In 
both  the  orthodox  and  reform  churches  of  the  Jews,  there  are  men 
of  the  highest  reputation  for  learning,  and,  consequently,  each  side 
is  maintained  with  all  the  strength  of  schoki'ship  and  faith.  The 
newspaper  organs  of  both  are  also  well  conducted,  and  enjoy  a  lib- 
eral patronage.  Their  discussions  are  always  going  on,  but  with  the 
dignity  of  learning,  rather  than  any  personal  acrimony.  Take  them 
all  in  all,  there  is  no  religious  class  of  the  community  who  present 
a  more  prosperous  and  respectable  attitude,  as  a  sect  and  as  individ- 
uals, than  the  Jews  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Adler  preaches  in  the  German  language,  and  occasionally 
lectures  in  English.  Though  he  speaks  quite  well  in  the  latter 
tongue,  he  states  that  he  does  not  care  to  use  it  in  public.  Sermons 
in  English  are  regulai'ly  delivered  by  a  learned  associate,  the  Kev. 
Dr.  Gottheil,  formerly  of  Manchester,  England,  called  for  the  purpose. 
Each  of  these  gentlemen  receives  six  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Dr. 
Adler's  sermons  are  extemporaneous,  but  show  profound  thought  in 
his  previous  preparation.  He  is  a  learned  theologian,  in  the  full 
meaning  of  the  term,  and  hence  he  is  at  no  loss  as  a  teacher  of  sa- 
cred things,  to  control  the  human  mind  and  heart.  Fervent  and  elo- 
quent in  expressing  himself,  his  language  is  well  chosen,  and  his 
manner  dignified  and  impressive.  In  private  life  he  is  a  man  of  at- 
tractive qualities,  and  is  sometimes  given  to  merriment.  His  taste 
and  habits,  however,  are  mostly  of  a  scholarly  nature,  and  he  is 
generally  found  absorbed  in  his  books  and  reflections.  He  is  under 
the  medium  height,  with  a  round  head.  The  face  is  large,  having 
regular  and  expressive  features.  It  conveys  full  evidence  that  he  is 
a  man  of  thoroughly  sincere  character,  and  great  patience  and  ear- 
nestness of  effort.  Whatever  he  under  akes  is  done  without  show, 
but  with  unwavering  energ)-,  and  a  happy  adaptation  of  means  to 
the  end  in  view.  With  the  history  of  Jewish  reform  in  Germany, 
but  more  especially  in  the  city  of  New  York,  his  name  will  be 
forever  associated.  Profound  in  learning  and  conscientious  in  duty, 
he  has  won  success  for  his  cause,  and  imperishable  honor  for 
him  sell 

14 


PiEY.  SAMUEL  D.  ALEXANDER,  D.  D., 

BY'X'JEKIAJV     CHUItCU. 


EY.  DR  SAMUEL  D.  ALEXANDER  was  born  at  Prince- 
ton, New  Jersey.  May  3d,  1819.  He  is  the  son  of  the 
late  and  distinguished  Rev.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander, 
Professor  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  New  Brunswick, 
and  brother  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Addison  Alex- 
ander, noted  as  a  commentator  on  the  Scriptures  and  an  Orien- 
tal scholar,  and  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander,  a  man  of 
high  position  in  the  Presbyterian  denomination,  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  pastor  of  the  Fifth  avenue  and  Nineteenth  Street  Church, 
New  York. 

The  Alexander  family,  who  were  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  Pres- 
byterians, made  early  settlements  in  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
"Virginia,  and  North  Carolina.  A  tradition  connected  with  the  fam- 
ily relates  that  on  the  eve  of  the  departui-e  of  seven  brothers  of  the 
name  from  Ireland  for  the  New  World,  they  sent  to  Scotland  for 
their  old  minister  to  come  and  baptize  their  children  and  administer 
the  ordinances  to  them.     Says  the  account: 

"  The  minister,  a  faithful  and  fearless  man,  came  at  the  invitation  ;  the  family 
and  their  effects  were  embarked  with  due  secrecy  and  quietness  ;  the  minister  was 
taken  on  board  the  vessel  and  the  sacrament  of  baptism  was  administered  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  family  with  the  solemnity  and  prayerfulness  becoming  the 
circumstances.  Just  then  a  company  of  armed  men  that  were  prewling  about  came 
on  board  the  vessel,  broke  up  the  meeting,  and  carried  the  minister  to  a  place  of 
confinement. 

"The  companj'  were  in  consternation,  fearing  the  same  fate  for  themselves,  and 
distressed  about  leaving  their  minister  in  this  unhappy  condition,  brought  on  him 
for  their  sakes.  Toward  nigbt  the  old  mother,  who  had  been  piously  covenanting 
for  her  grandchildren,  exclaimed,  '  Mun  gang  ye  awn,  tak  our  minister  out  o'  the 
jaU,  and  tak  him,  guid  soul,  wi'  us  to  Amarika. '    Her  voice  had  never  been  diso- 

15 


REV.    SAMUEL    D.    ALEXANDEE,    D.  D. 

beyed.  Before  morning  the  minister  was  on  board  and  the  vessel  out  of  the  harbor. 
He  was  persuaded  to  go  along  with  them  in  their  pilgrimage.  "With  many  prayers 
and  thanksgivings  they  were  landed  safely  on  Manhattan  Island. " 

During  his  lifetime  the  minister  followed  their  emigrations,  and 
assisted  them  in  their  schools  and  in  training  their  children.  Their 
baptisms  and  marriages  generally  took  place  at  the  time  of  his  an- 
nual visit. 

The  subject  of  our  notice  was  graduated  at  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  sometimes  called  Nassau  Hall,  in  1838,  and  at  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary  in  184:7.  During  an  interval  before  entering 
upon  his  theological  course  he  studied  natural  philosophy  under 
Professor  Joseph  Henry.  LL.  D.,  now  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute, 
and  gave  his  attention  to  civil  engineering,  and  subsequently  studied 
law,  but  never  sought  admission  to  the  bar.  He  was  licensed  in 
May,  1847,  and  ordained  in  November  of  the  same  year,  when  he 
settled  as  pastor  of  the  Eichmond  Presbyterian  Church,  in  Philadel- 
phia, remaining  there  three  years.  In  1856,  he  removed  to  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  was  installed  in  his  present  pastoral  relations  in 
connection  with  the  Fifteenth  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
organization  of  this  congregation  took  place  September  8th,  1844, 
with  twenty-seven  members,  and  was  one  of  the  early  up-town  move- 
ments. For  many  years  the  building  occupied  was  a  plain  but 
commodious  structure,  which  was  erected  by  the  munificence  of  James 
Lenox,  Esq.,  of  New  York.  More  recently  the  congregation  has 
followed  a  second  up-town  migration,  and  is  now  located  on  the  corner 
of  Madison  Avenue  and  Seventy-third  street.  A  new  chapel  has  been 
built,  and  a  large  main  edifice  is  now  being  erected  at  a  cost  of  about 
ninety  thousand  dollars,  on  Madison  Avenue.  The  title  of  the  con- 
gregation has  been  changed  to  the  Phillips  Memorial  Church.  Dr. 
Alexander  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Washington  College, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1863.  He  is  the  author  of  a  work,  in  one  volume, 
entitled  "  History  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church." 

Dr.  Alexander  is  tall,  equally  proportioned,  and  of  erect,  easy 

carriage.     His  head  is  round  and  small,  but  perfectly  formed,  with 

prominent  intellectual  characteristics.     He  has  straight  light  brown 

hair,  wears  side  whiskers,  and  looks  his  full  age.     Without  anything 

like  hasty  familiarity  or  desire  to  be  communicative,  he  has  a  friend- 

liness  of  manner  and  a  frankness  of  address  by  which  he  gracefully 

and  agreeably  places  himself  on  the  best  footing  with  you.     There 

is  no  show  of  self-importance,  but  the  most  simple  and  unassuming 

16 


REV.    SAMUEL    D.     ALEXANDER,    D.  D. 

deportment  tlirougbout  You  find  yourself  intimate  with  him  as 
soon  as  you  are  acquainted,  and  long  association  only  adds  to  the 
good  opinion  and  esteem  which  the  earliest  intercourse  is  certain  to 
engender.  He  has  a  well-stored  mind,  but  is  rather  secretive  in  re- 
gard to  his  learning,  from  the  two  causes  of  modesty  of  his  acquire- 
ments and  an  aversion  to  pedantry.  His  writings  display  more  of 
his  qualifications  in  this  respect  than  his  conversation.  He  argues 
closely  and  elaborately,  but  with  such  freedom  of  diction  and  clear- 
ness of  conception  that  there  is  neither  tediousness  nor  obscurity. 
He  thinks  boldly  and  vigorously,  and  he  writes  with  quite  as  much 
conciseness  of  expression  and  energy  of  application.  Following  in 
the  footsteps  of  his  father  and  brothers,  he  is  a  critical  student  of  the 
Bible,  and  there  are  few  who  think  more  profoundly  when  expound- 
ing its  pages. 

Dr.  Alexander  has  excellent  capabilities  as  a  pulpit  speaker. 
His  voice  is  soft  and  agreeable,  entirely  under  his  control,  and,  with- 
out being  strictly  oratorical,  his  style  is  highly  effective.  He  has 
only  a  moderate  amount  of  gesture,  and  there  is  nothing  which  at 
all  tends  to  display.  But  he  commands  the  undivided  attention  of 
the  auditor,  because  he  never  fails  to  present  thought  which  is  not 
less  original  than  conclusive.  There  is  sufficient  warmth  and  imagi- 
nation to  prove  that  the  quick  feelings  and  ardent  mind  are  both  at 
work  ;  but  the  more  efiicient  element  of  the  discourse  is  broad  com- 
mon sense  and  substantial  logic. 

17 


REV.  GALUSIIA  ANDERSON,  D.  D. 


JPA-STOK,    OF    THE    STROIVG    1?1L,A^C:e:    13A.P»TIST 


lEV.  DR  GALUSHA  ANDEESON  was  bom  at  Bergen, 
Genesee  County,  New  York,  March  7tb,  1832.  He  was 
graduated  at  the  University  of  Eocliester,  in  1854,  and 
in  theology  at  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary  in 
1856.  During  the  same  year  he  was  first  settled  over  the 
^  First  Baptist  Church  at  Janesville,  Wisconsin,  where  he  re- 
mained two  years.  He  then  went  to  the  Second  Church  of  St.  Louis, 
remaining  eight  years,  and  accomplishing  results  in  his  ministry, 
not  less  unusual  than  satisfactory  to  himself  and  the  community. 
The  agitation  and  bitterness  of  feel  ins;  which  affected  all  classes  in 
Missouri,  and  in  St.  Louis  especially,  at  the  opening  of  the  war  with 
the  South,  are  well  known.  Dr.  Anderson  at  once  took  strong 
ground  in  his  pulpit  and  out  of  it,  in  favor  of  the  Union,  and  the  re- 
sult was  the  loss  of  a  large  number  of  his  congregation.  A  thanks- 
giving sermon  on  "  Obedience  to  Government,"  preached  on  the  27th 
of  November,  1862,  at  the  time  published  in  the  local  papers,  and 
subsequently  in  Moore's  "  Rebellion  Record,"  brought  him  into  great 
prominence  in  this  matter.  He  continued  his  advocacy  of  the  Union, 
and  remained  with  the  part  of  the  congregation  who  were  loyal, 
gradually  regaining  in  numbers,  until  at  the  close  of  the  war  the 
congregation  was  numerically  stronger  than  before.  He  regards  his 
work  at  that  period  with  a  vivid  recollection  of  its  difficulties,  as  well 
as  a  pleasing  satisfaction  as  to  the  prosperous  condition  in  which  he 
finally  left  the  restored  congregation.  In  1866  he  was  elected  to  the 
chair  of  Homiletics,  Church  Polity,  and  Pastoral  Duties  in  the  Bap- 
tist Theological  Institution  at  Newton,  Mass.,  which  he  filled  with 
marked  success  for  seven  years,  until  called  to  his  present  pastor- 
ship, fie  commenced  his  work  with  the  Strong  Place  Baptist  Church 
of  Brooklyn  on  the  first  Sunday  of  October,  1873. 

The   Strong  Place  congregation  was  organized  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Elisha  E.  L.  Taylor,  who  for  more  than  twenty  years  was  one  of  the 


EEV.    QALUSHA    ANDERSON,    D.I). 

most  active  clergymen  of  Brooklyn.  A  stone  chapel  was  built  in 
Strong  Place  in  which  worship  was  commenced  in  1849.  Dorino- 
1851-2  a  large  and  elegant  structure  of  red  free-stone  was  erected, 
fronting  on  Degraw  street,  and  dedicated  on  the  19th  of  September, 
1852. 

The  cost,  aside  from  the  seven  lots  of  ground,  was  a  little  over 
seventy  thousand  dollars.  The  last  dollar  of  debt  upon  the  entire 
church  property  was  paid  in  1863. 

Dr.  Taylor  was  highly  successful,  and  gathered  a  congregation 
large  in  numbers  and  powerful  in  wealth  and  social  influence.  Up 
to  1863  one  thousand  members  joined  the  church,  five  hundred  of 
whom  were  received  on  profession  of  their  faith,  and  baptized.  Dr. 
Taylor's  health  at  length  became  much  impaired,  so  that  he  could 
not  preach  regularly,  and  finally  he  determined  to  retire  altogether 
from  the  active  work  of  the  ministry.  His  congregation  made  ample 
provision  for  him  in  a  pecuniary  way  for  his  life  time,  giving  him 
the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  In  1867  Dr.  Taylor  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Kev.  Wayland  Hoyt,  who  remained  until  1873. 

Dr.  Anderson  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  University  of 
Rochester  in  1866.  He  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  Bap- 
tist Quarterly^  and  other  publications. 

He  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  equally  proportioned.  His  head 
is  round,  with  regular  and  expressive  features.  His  hair  is  slightly 
gray,  and  he  looks  rather  older  than  his  years.  From  his  countenance 
you  may  readily  understand  him  to  be  a  man  of  energetic  pur- 
pose, and  a  lover  of  right  and  propriety  in  all  things.  He  looks  into 
the  motives  of  individuals,  and  the  probabilities  of  events  with  a 
great  deal  of  keen  penetration,  and  he  is  not  often  at  fault  in  either 
his  deductions  or  proceedings.  In  his  nature  he  is  genial,  and  full 
of  kindness  and  sympathy,  but  after  all,  he  is  stern  in  his  judgment, 
and  unswerving  in  his  devotion  to  principle  and  duty.  He  is,  in 
fact,  a  person  whose  quick  impulse  is  to  be  just  and  friendly  with 
all  men,  but  who  is  equally  certain  to  hold  them  to  uprightness  and 
virtue  as  the  price  of  his  esteem. 

He  deservedly  enjoys  a  high  rank  as  a  scholar  and  preacher. 
There  is  nothing  supei-ficial  in  his  attainments  in  any  particular. 
He  shows  the  substance,  vigor,  and  power  of  thought  in  all  that  he 
attempts,  and  in  teaching  and  expounding  he  is  not  surpassed  by 
any  clergyman  of  his  denomination. 

19 


IlEV.  THOMAS  D.  Al^DEllSON,  D.  D., 

PASTOR      OF      THE      rillST      I5A.PTIST      CHURCH, 
IVETV      YOllIil. 


\W|^p)EV.  DR.  THOMAS  D.  ANDERSON  was  bora  in  Phila- 
1^1^^)  delphia  June  30tb,  1819,  but  passed  much  of  his  earlier 

f$^'  years  in  the  city  of  Washington,  whither  his  parents  had 
?^  removed.  He  was  graduated  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania in  1838,  and  in  theology  at  the  Newton  Theological 
c_^  Institute,  in  1841.  He  was  ordained  and  settled  in  1842  as 
pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Salem,  Mass.,  where  he  re- 
mained six  years.  Impaired  health  induced  him  to  resign  in 
February,  1848,  but  in  the  following  June  he  again  assumed  pastoral 
labors  in  connection  with  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Roxbury, 
which  continued  through  a  period  of  nearly  four  years.  During  his 
sojourn  with  them,  the  congregation  erected  a  new  brick  and  mastic 
Gothic  church  edifice,  with  a  spire  two  hundred  feet  high,  which  is 
considered  one  of  the  most  beautiful  buildings  of  the  kind  in  the 
country.  Though  greatly  attached  to  his  people  and  to  the  place,  so 
celebrated  for  its  rural  charms  and  social  culture,  he  nevertheless  felt 
it  his  duty  to  accept  a  call  in  another  field  of  vast  importance.  In 
January,  1862,  he  became  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Broome 
street,  New  York,  formerly  under  the  pastorship  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
Spencer  H.  Cone. 

Dr.  Anderson's  publications  consist  of  occasional  sermons  and 
addresses.  In  July,  1850,  he  delivered,  before  the  city  government 
and  citizens  of  Roxbury,  a  funeral  oration  on  Zachary  Taylor,  late 
President  of  the  United  States ;  and  in  January,  1860,  he  delivered 
the  "Election  Sermon,"  annually  given  before  the  Executive  and 
Legislative  Departments  of  the  Goverament  of  Massachusetts.  His 
degree  of  D.  D.  was  bestowed  by  Brown  University  in  1859. 

Previous  to  the  year  1669  there  was  preaching  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  according  to  the  Baptist  faith,  by  one  William  Wickenden,  of 
Rhode  Island,  who  was  imprisoned  several  mouths  for  presuming  to 

20 


KEV.     THOMAS     J).     ANDERSON,      D.  D. 

preacli  without  a  license  from  an  officer  of  the  crown.  In  1712  Mr. 
Valentine  Wightnian,  from  Groton,  Connecticut,  preached  with  con- 
siderable success.  Tliis  clergyman  was  invited  to  the  city  by  a 
Baptist  brewer,  named  Nicholas  Eyers,  who  organized  the  first  con- 
gregation. The  following  petition  appears  among  the  public  records 
of  Kew  York  of  1721 : 

" To  his  Excellency  William  Burnet,  Esq.,  Capt.un  General  and  Governor-iu-Cliief 
of  the  province  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and  the  territories  depending  on 
them  in  America,  and  Vice-Admiral  of  the  same. 
"The  humble  petition  of  Nicholas  Eyers,  brewer,  a  Baptist  teacher  in  the  city  of 
New  York. 
"  Sheweth  unto  your  Excellency  that  on  the  first  Tues:lay  of  February,  1715,  at  a 
general  quarter  sessions  of  the  peace  held  at  the  city  of  New  York,  the  hired  house 
of  your  petitioner,  situate  iu  the  broad  street  of  this  city,  between  the  house  of  John 
Michel  Eyers  and  Mr.  John  Spratt,  was  registered  for  an  Anabaj^tist  meeting-hous9 
within  this  city.     That  the  petitioner  has  it  certified  under  the  hands  of  sixteen  in- 
habitants of  good  faith  and  credit,  that  he  had  been  a  public  teacher  to  a  Baptist 
congregation  within  the  city  for  four  years,  and  some  of  them  for  less.     That  hs  has 
it  certified  by  the  Hon.  Eip  Van  Dam,  Esq.,  one  of  his  Majesty's  council  for  the  pro- 
vince of  New  York,  to  have  hired  a  house  iu  this  city  from  him  January  1st,  1720, 
only  to  be  a  public  house  for  the  Baptists,  which  he  still  keeps  ;  and  as  he  has  ob- 
tained from  the  Maj^or  and  Recorder  of  this  city  an  ample  certificate  of  Ms  good  be- 
havior and  innocent  conversation,  he  therefore  humbly  prays  ; 
•'  May  it  please  your  Excellency 

"To  grant  and  permit  this  petitioner  to  execute  the  ministerial  function  of  a  min- 
ister within  this  city  to  a  Baptist  congregation,  and  to  give  him  protection  therein 
according  to  His  Majesty's  gracious  indulgence  extended  towards  the  Protestants 
dissenting  from  the  Established  Church,  he  being  willing  to  comply  with  all  that  is 
required  by  the  act  of  toleration  from  dissenters  of  that  persuasion  in  Great  Britain, 
and  being  owned  for  a  reverend  brother  by  other  Baptist  teachers.  And  as  in  duty 
bound  the  petitioner  shall  ever  pray,  &c. 

"Nicholas  Eteks." 

Mr.  Eyers  organized  a  church  of  twelve  members  in  1721,  who 
purchased  lots  and  built  a  house  of  worship  on  Gold  street.  After 
about  eight  years'  existence  the  congregation  numbered  only  twenty- 
four  members,  and,  being  left  without  a  pastor,  under  gi-eat  pecuniary 
embarrassments,  was  disbanded.  The  present  First  congregation 
originated  in  1745,  when  Jeremiah  Dodge,  a  member  of  the  Fishkill 
Baptist  Church,  settled  in  New  York,  and  opened  his  house  for  public 
worship.  In  1753  the  number  was  so  small  that  they  united  with 
the  Scotch  Plains  Church,  New  Jersey,  with  the  understanding  that 
Elder  Benjamin  Miller,  the  pastor  of  that  church,  should  preach 
occasionally  in  New  York.  The  attendance  increased,  and  a  rigging- 
loft  was  hired  in  Horse  and  Cart  Lane,  now  William  street,  where 
worship  was  held  for  several  years.     On  the  14th  of  March,  1760,  a 

21 


REV.     THOMAS     D.     ANDERSON,     D-D. 

small  meeting-house  was  opened,  which  they  bad  erected  on  pur- 
chased ground  in  Gold  street.  Twenty-seven  memlDcrs  of  the  Scotch 
Plains  Church,  having  taken  letters  of  dismission,  the  New  York 
congregation  was  reorganized  on  the  19th  of  June,  1762,  Eev.  John 
Gano  becoming  the  pastor.  In  two  or  three  years  the  members  had 
increased  to  two  hundred,  and  the  meeting  house  was  considerably  en- 
larged. The  war  of  the  revolution  scattered  the  congregation.  The 
ordinance  of  baptism  was  administered  April  28th,  1776,  and  not 
again  until  September,  1784.  Mr.  Gano,  "  a  firm  patriot  and  a  brave 
man,"  served  as  chaplain.  He  returned  to  New  York  after  its  evac- 
uation b}''  the  British  in  November,  1783,  and  collected  together 
"about  thirty-seven  members  of  the  church  out  of  above  two 
hundred."  The  meeting-house  was  repaired,  having  been  used  as  a 
store-house  and  stable  for  horses.  The  congregation,  in  two  years, 
a^ain  numbered  more  than  two  hundred  members.  In  March,  1801, 
the  meeting-house  was  removed,  to  make  room  for  a  new  building. 
A  stone  edifice  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  about  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars,  which  was  opened  in  May  of  the  following  year.  In  1805 
there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty-three  members,  and  in  1809  they 
numbered  five  hundred  and  sixty-four.  At  difierent  periods  much 
dissension  occurred  in  the  church,  growing  out  of  questions  of  doc- 
trine and  church  discipline.  Among  others  pastors  was  Rev.  William 
Parkinson,  of  Fredericktown,  Maryland,  who  resigned  in  1840,  after 
a  service  of  more  than  thirty-five  years.  From  this  chiu'ch  sprung 
the  Second,  or  Bethel,  Zoar,  Abyssinian,  Bethesda,  and  several  other 
churches.  Between  seventy  and  eighty  members  united  with  the 
Bethesda  Church,  of  which  Dr.  Parkinson  became  pastor.  In  July, 
1841,  Rev.  Dr.  Cone  assumed  the  pastorship,  having  preached  in  the 
Oliver  street  Baptist  Church  eighteen  years  and  two  months.  The 
church  was  reduced  to  about  two  hundred  members,  and  was  much 
in  debt.  Prosperity  returned  under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Cone.  The 
building  until  recently  occupied  by  the  congregation,  on  the  corner 
of  Broome  and  Elizabeth  streets,  was  constructed,  and  opened 
February  20th,  1842.  The  cost  of  the  whole  property  was  about 
seventy -five  thousand  dollars,  a  portion  of  which  was  paid  by  the  sale 
of  the  lots  in  Gold  street  for  thirty-three  thousand  dollars.  In  1848 
the  number  of  members  was  six  hundred  and  two.  The  number  is 
now  about  seven  hundred.  The  regular  Sunday  School  has  three 
hundred  and  fifty  children,  and  a  Mission  School  as  many  more.     A 

flourishing    Industrial    School  is    held   on   each    Saturdav,    and  is 

22 


p.  EV.     THOMAS     D.     ANDERSON,     D.  D. 

crowded  chiefly  with  Ii-ish  and  German  children.  More  recently  the 
church  in  Broome  street  was  sold,  and  a  magnificent  edifice  was  erected 
for  the  congregation  in  the  upper  part  of  tlie  city,  on  tlie  corner  of 
Thirty-ninth  street  and  Park  Avenue.  It  was  dedicated  October  1st, 
1871. 

']"'lie  general  statistics  of  the  Baptists  in  the  United  States  are  as 
follows : 

Associations 799 

Chr.rches 15,143 

Ordained  ministers '8, 787 

Baptisms  last  year 70, 172 

Total  membership. 1,221,349 

In  membership  Georgia  leads  off  with  134:,D37;  Virginia  follows  -with  122,120,  and 
then  comes  New  York  with  100,616.  In  the  British  provinces  there  are  45,145  Bap- 
tists; in  Europe,  260,541;  in  Africa,  2,101:  in  Asia,  21,061;  in  the  West  Indies, 
22,749;  in  Australasia,  4,321 — making  a  grand  total  of  1,746,414.  These  figures  ara 
not  pertect,  but  they  show  a  near  approximation  to  the  actual  numbers. 

We  take  the  following  eloquent  passage  from  Dr.  Anderson's 
•'  Election  Sermon  "  on  "  The  Home  and  the  Nation  :" 

"Most  favorable  for  permanence  is  our  location.  We  are  planted  on  fresh  soil, 
where  no  incrustation  from  the  debris  of  decayed  ages  held  bound  the  germ  of  free 
principles,  or  stunted  its  growth.  No  moldering  antiqiiity  threw  iJs  balelul 
shadows  over  our  inheritance,  chilling  the  earnest  endeavor,  or  mildewing  the  first 
fruits  of  our  toiL  WaUe  defenceless,  the  sea  rolled  its  protection  of  waves  between 
us  and  harm;  and  our  rigorous  climate  and  unsubdued  forests  had  but  small  attrac- 
tions to  the  east-loving  lust  of  dominion.  The  immense  territories  embraced  within 
our  borders  afforded  ample  room  for  the  most  rapid  increase  of  population,  and  the 
cheapness  of  our  unsold  land  places  within  the  reach  of  all  the  means  of  subsistence 
aud  comfort.  There  is  demand  for  labor  in  joining  our  distances:  opportunity  for 
skill  in  the  construction  of  implements  of  industry,  that  we  may  avail  ourselves  of 
our  exhaustless  resources;  trade  and  commercs  are  necessities  of  our  variously  con- 
ditioned, prosperous,  and  widely-scattered  inhabitants.  In  one  region  we  have  the 
pine  aud  the  hemlock  battling  with  the  winter  storm,  to  be  exchanged  for  the  live 
oak  and  the  hickory  flourishing  under  milder  skies;  here  the  autumnal  fields  were 
with  the  yellow  grain,  and  there  the  cotten  and  rice  whiten  the  plantation,  or  the 
cane  yields  its  sweetness  almost  beneath  a  tropic  sun.  The  mines  of  one  neighbor- 
hood send  forth  the  load,  the  iron,  and  the  copper;  those  of  another  the  silver  and 
the  gold,  while  interlacing  all  run  the  imperishable  veins  of  coal.  Elvers  rise  in 
our  mountains,  and,  flowing  thousands  of  miles,  receiving  through  navigable  tribu- 
taries the  drainage  of  a  continent,  find  still  on  our  own  coasts  their  outlets  to  the 
sea,  while  everywhere  homes,  palpitating  to  the  throb  of  kindred  joys.  Like  pulses, 
transmit  the  same  vital  current  to  the  extremities,  and  thus  bind  the  remotest  mem- 
bers of  the  confederacy  in  one  organic,  li\-ing  Union." 

Dr.  Anderson  is  a  man  of  striking  appearance.  Tall  and  thin,  he 
stands  perfectly  erect,  and  has  a  proud,  commanding  air,  which,  how 

23 


REV.     THOMAS     D.     ANDERSON",     D.  D. 

ever,  undoubtedly  proceeds  more  from  habit  than  intention.  He  has 
a  long  head,  rising  full  and  large  in  the  crown,  and  covered  with  a 
bountiful  growth  of  silken,  iron-grey  hair,  which  falls  about  in  grace- 
ful confusion.  His  features  are  small,  but  thoroughly  intellectual ; 
his  complexion  is  dark,  and  his  eyes,  of  the  same  hue,  are  bright  and 
piercing.  He  is  courteous  and  affable,  while  there  is  always  a  well- 
sustained  dignity  about  him.  In  conversing  he  speaks  with  thought- 
fulness  and  deliberation,  evidently  seeking  to  be  exact  in  all  his 
statements,  and  not  showing  much  patience  with  those  who  talk  un- 
reflectingly. He  is  a  scholarly  man,  having  a  mind  already  enriched 
with  high  culture,  and  still  believing  itself  but  on  the  threshold  of 
the  flight  to  which  it  aspires.  Every  branch  of  learning  awakens  his 
intellectual  energies ;  but  all  that  he  seeks  and  all  that  he  gains  is  for 
use  in  the  one  cherished  purpose  of  making  plain  the  truths  of  re- 
ligion. Measuring  duty  by  the  keenest  perceptions  of  conscience,  he 
never  knowingly  falls  short  of  any  of  its  requirements,  while  the  en- 
thusiasm as  well  at  the  comfort  of  his  life  are  found  in  his  prized  and 
well-assured  faith. 

Dr.  Anderson  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  orators  in  the  New 
York  pulpit.  During  his  residence  in  Washington,  at  a  period  when 
the  Senate  was  composed  of  intellectual  giants,  it  was  his  custom  to 
repair  to  its  chamber,  and  listen,  with  absorbed  interest,  to  the 
eloquent  debates.  Among  others,  he  heard  the  reply  of  Webster  to 
Hayne,  and  relates  how  entranced  he  was,  particularly  with  the  mag- 
nificent and  well-remembered  peroration.  Standing  now  a  public 
speaker  himself,  ordained  to  preach  repentance,  filled  with  a  zeal  to 
reach  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men,  the  influence  of  those  scenes  in 
the  Senate  is  still  upon  him.  He  opens  before  him  a  sermon  couched 
in  polished  language  and  consummate  in  argument.  It  is  not  merely 
his  lips,  but  his  soul  is  possessed  with  his  theme ;  his  mellow  voice 
rings  forth,  and  with  tongue,  eyes,  gestures,  and  the  whole  man,  he 
sways  and  fascinates  the  breathless  multitude.  His  language  is  plain 
in  its  meaning  and  vigorously  applied,  and  his  illustrations,  which 
take  a  range  as  wide  as  his  learning  and  fancy,  are  as  pointed  as  they 
are  beautifully  expressed.  Impassioned  in  utterance  and  action,  there 
is  no  limit  to  his  comprehensiveness  of  mind  ;  and,  as  his  subject  may 
expand  and  excite,  it  stimulates  to  grander  thought  and  moves  to 
more  impressive  tones.  With  all  the  glow  and  beauty  of  eloquence, 
he  has  all  the  sincerity  and  solemnity  which  best  become  the 
Christian  teacher.  24 


REV.  THOMAS  ARMITAGE,  D.  D., 

PASTOR    OF    THE    FIFTH    A.VE1VXJE    BA.PTIST 
CHiURCH:,     NEW     YORK:. 


EY.  DR  THOMAS  ARMITAGE  was  born  in  England, 
in  1819,  and  came  to  America  in  1838,  at  the  age  of  19 
^  years.  He  is  a  scion  of  the  old  Armitage  stock  which 
^^^  sprung  from  Sir  John  Armitage,  of  Beraslej,  England, 
v^  who  was  made  a  baron  by  Charles  I.,  in  1640.  Sir  John  was 
<.'S3  the  progenitor  of  the  present  Sir  Elnauali  Armitage,  a  member 
of  Parliament.  The  mother  of  Dr.  Armitage  was  an  exceedingly 
pious  woman  of  the  Methodist  persuasion,  who  died  when  he  was  six 
years  of  age,  making  it  an  especial  prayer  that  her  eldest  son, 
Thomas,  "  might  be  converted,  and  become  a  good  minister  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ"  Says  another:  "He  was,  from  his  mother's  death, 
constantly  subject  to  serious  religious  impressions,  and  at  the  age  of 
twelve  was  hopefully  converted  to  God.  His  impressions  were  deep- 
ened in  early  youth  by  reading  the  'Journal  of  John  Nelson'  and 
Bunyan's  'Pilgrim's  Progress.'  While  listening  to  a  sermon  from 
the  text,  'Is  it  well  with  thee?'  he  was  overwhelmed  with  a  view  of 
his  lost  state,  fell  on  his  knees  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation,  which 
was  assembled  in  an  upper  room,  and  cried  aloud  for  mercy.  The 
minister  ceased  preaching,  and  all  the  church  engaged  in  prayer  for 
the  lad.  He  was  converted,  and  joined  the  church  the  very  next 
day.  He  immediately  commenced  the  exercise  of  his  gifts,  and  at 
that  early  age  gave  promise  of  great  usefulness  as  an  ambassador  of 
the  cross.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  licensed  to  exhort  in  the 
Methodist  church,  and  six  months  after  was  licensed  to  preach,  being 
still  in  his  sixteenth  year.  He  refused  at  first  to  take  the  latter 
license,  but  was  persuaded  to  do  so  by  the  promises  that  an  older 
minister  should  go  with  him  on  his  preaching  tours.  He  prepared 
to  preach  his  first  sermon  with  fear  and  trembling,  writing  the  sketch 
of  it  while  on  his  knees  in  prayer  for  Divine  aid.  This  course  in 
preparing  his  remarks  he  long  continued,  regularly,  and  we  believe 

25 


REV.     THOMAS     ARMITAGE,     D.  D. 

he  very  frequently  observes  it  still,  especially  when  pressed  under  a 
deep  sense  of  ministerial  responsibility.  His  text  was  Matt,  xi., 
28 — 'Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor,'  &c.  This  discourse  was  de- 
livered at  Altercliff  Common,  near  Shefl&eld,  in  the  presence  of  Eev. 
3.  Beedle,  the  minister  appointed  to  accompany  him  on  the  occasion 
and  report  his  success  to  the  quarterly  conference.  Its  delivery  was 
a  memorable  time  in  his  history.  A  number  of  persons  were  deeply 
convicted  of  sin,  and  three  of  them  were  hopefully  converted.  Thus 
the  approbation  of  God  was  manifested  in  the  beginning  of  his 
ministry." 

He  labored  with  success  for  three  or  four  years  as  a  local  preacher, 
and  it  was  much  desired  that  he  should  go  upon  a  circuit  as  a  trav- 
eling preacher.  His  attention,  however,  had  been  directed  to  the 
United  States,  and  hither  he  came  to  enjoy  our  liberal  institutions 
and  cultivate  the  promising  field  of  religious  labor.  He  was  first 
sent  to  a  church  in  SufioJk  county.  Long  Island,  then  to  Watervliet, 
Albany  county,  N.  Y.,  and  next  to  the  Garretson  Station  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  in  Pearl  street,  Albany,  and  subsequently  to 
other  point?.  At  all  these  places  he  inaugurated  extensive  revivals, 
one  of  which,  in  Albany,  in  1842-3,  was  of  extraordinary  fruitful- 
ness.  He  occupied  an  eminent  and  influential  position  in  the 
Methodist  Church,  but  at  length  became  a  Baptist.  The  following 
is  an  account  of  the  manner  of  his  conversion : 

"  In  1839,  he  was  invited  to  supply,  temporarily,  a  church  in 
Brooklyn,  L.  I.  Eev.  Jacob  Knapp  was  aiding  Rev.  S.  Hsley,  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  in  a  protracted  meeting.  Mr.  Armitage  heard 
that  some  of  the  candidates  were  to  be  immersed  by  Mr.  Hsley,  and, 
having  never  witnessed  such  a  sight,  attended.  He  was  immediately 
overwhelmed  with  a.  consciousness  of  its  fidelity  to  the  Gospel. 
His  heart  was  melted  and  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  He  took  with 
him  to  that  scene  a  heart  as  bigoted  as  that  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  but 
was  disarmed  and  deeply  convinced  of  his  own  error.  He  inquired, 
is  not  this  the  gospel  method  ?  He  went  home  to  investigate  ;  but, 
having  no  books  on  that  subject  at  command,  and  no  Baptist  friend 
to  take  him  by  the  hand  or  aid  him,  his  convictions  gradually  wore 
away.  But  when  in  Albany,  in  1843,  hearing  that  the  Eevs.  M. 
Swan  and  Cooley  were  to  baptize  a  large  company  of  persons,  he 
went  to  witness  the  scene.  Again  his  conviction  returned  with  in- 
creasing force.  He  then  resolved,  standing  in  the  crowd  at  the  bap- 
tismal water,  that  he  would  investigate  the  subject  without  delav. 

26 


K  E  V.     THOMAS     A  R  M  I  T  A  G  E  ,     D.  D. 

He  got  Pengillj,  Woolsey,  Carson,  and  other  works,  and  continued 
his  investigations  from  1843  to  1848,  and  came  out  a  thorough  Bap- 
tist in  doctiine,  practice,  and  church  government.  It  was  a  hard 
struggle.  For  six  months  before  he  resigned  his  pastoral  charge  and 
left  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  he  could  not  rest — sleep  de- 
parted. But  he  overcame  at  last,  and  his  resolution  was  fixed.  It 
is  proper  to  say  that  he  expressed,  at  the  time  of  his  examination  in 
the  Methodist  Church,  objection  to  their  form  of  government,  and 
d(Hibt  of  the  doctrines  of  falling  from  grace  and  sinless  perfection  in 
this  life,  as  well  as  of  the  ordinances,  points  on  which  they  allow 
great  latitude  of  thought  among  their  ministers.  He  was  baptized 
by  Eev.  Dr.  Welch  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Pearl  Street  Baptist 
Church,  Albany,  in  the  presence  of  an  overflowing  congregation  ; 
scores  of  them  had  been  brought  to  God  under  his  ministry. 

"  Soon  after  this,  a  very  large  council  was  called  by  the  Pearl 
street  Church  to  ordain  him.  Dr.  Welch  was  moderator,  Eev.  W.  S. 
Clapp  clerk,  and  Elder  Alfred  Bennet  was  one  of  the  examiners,  and 
laid  on  hands  with  others,  when  the  ordaining  prayer  was  offered. 
He  had  previously  obtained  an  honorable  dismission  from  the  Rev. 
John  Liiidsey,  with  a  certificate  highly  commendatory  as  a  faithful 
Christian  minister.  Thus,  at  the  age  of  twenty -nine,  he  was  received 
as  a  minister  of  the  Baptist  denomination." 

He  was  shortly  called  to  the  Norfolk  street  Church,  New  York, 
over  which  congregation  he  is  still  settled.  He  accepted  this  call  at 
the  dying  request  of  the  Rev.  Greorge  Benedict,  former  pastor  of  the 
church,  who  said,  with  tears — "Brother  Armitage,  if  you  do  refuse 
this  call  it  will  be  the  most  painful  act  of  your  life."  When  about 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M. 
from  the  Madison  University,  N.  Y.,  and  at  thirty-four  the  degree  of 
D.  D.  was  conferred  by  Georgetown  College,  Ky. 

Dr.  Armitage's  congreofation  now  worship  in  a  church  on  Forty- 
sixth  street,  near  the  corner  of  Fifth  avenue.  The  removal  up  town 
was  in  1860,  and  the  new  location  is  not  less  then  four  miles  from 
the  old  one.  On  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the  congregation.  Dr. 
Armitage  stated  that  during  that  time  it  had  numbered  two  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  fifty  members,  altogether;  had  then  686,  leav- 
ing 1,5''34  who  had  died  or  joined  other  churches.  In  1860  it  had 
only  $2,800,  while  in  1872  the  Church  property  was  worth  $200,000 
with  a  debt  of  only  $40,000. 

In  June,  1856,  Dr.  Armitage  became  the  President  of  the  Amer- 

27 


REV.     THOMAS     ARMITAGE,     D.  D. 

ican  Bible  Union,  which  was  organized  in  New  York,  on  tine  10th  of 
June,  1850,  "to  procure  and  circulate  the  most  faithful  version  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures  in  all  languages  throughout  the  world."  Appro- 
priations have  been  made  for  the  circulation  of  the  Chinese  and  the 
Karen  Sciiptures,  as  well  as  the  Siamese,  Geraian,  French,  Italian, 
Spanish,  and  English,  and  the  revision  of  the  French,  Italian, 
Spanish,  and  English,  has  been  undertaken.  "  But  our  principal 
efforts,  from  the  origin  of  the  Union,"  says  a  report,  "and  our  largest 
expenditures,  have  been  devoted  to  the  enterprise  of  pi'ocuring  a 
thorough  and  faithful  revision  of  tlie  English  Scriptures.  This  is 
believed  to  be  the  most  important,  as  likely  to  be  read  by  the 
greatest  number  of  persons,  to  influence  most  largely  the  translations 
in  other  languages,  and  to  exercise  the  most  extensive  and  permanent 
control  over  the  destinies  of  mankind."  The  scholars  selected  to 
commence  the  revision  were  Rev.  Dr.  T.  J.  Conant,  late  professor  in 
the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary ;  Rev.  Dr.  H.  B.  Hackett,  pro- 
fessor in  Newton  Theological  Seminary ;  Professor  Dr.  E.  Rodiger, 
professor  in  the  Royal  University  in  Halle,  Germany,  and  Drs.  Bliss 
and  Kendrick.  The  argument  for  the  revision  may  be  briefly  stated 
thus:  Since  the  common  English  version  was  made,  many  ancient 
manuscripts  have  been  discovered  not  at  that  time  known  to  exist, 
and  some  of  them  are  acknowledged  to  be  of  the  most  valuable  and 
reliable  character.  From  the  years  1600  to  1611,  the  date  of  the 
common  version.  Great  Bi'itain  was  not  celebrated  for  any  great  ad- 
vances in  the  science  of  Biblical  philology  and  criticism.  A  very 
large  proportion  of  the  time  of  many  preachers  is  spent  in  correcting 
the  version  from  which  they  preach.  Many  words  are  not  now  or- 
dinarily understood  in  the  sense  in  which  they  were  used  when  the 
common  English  version  was  made.  Many  words  used  have  become 
obsolete,  and  their  meaning  is  unknown  to  the  general  reader.  The 
great  number  of  words  and  phrases  that  do  not  express  the  meaning 
of  the  original.  The  addition  of  words  by  the  translators.  The  fact 
that  the  division  into  chapters  and  verses  is  often  subversive  of  the 
sense,  and  far  more  frequently  breaks  in  ujDon  the  necessary  connec- 
tion of  historical  facts  or  arguments.  Errors  of  punctuation.  The 
obscurity  in  the  correspondence  of  similar  passages  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testament.  Grammatical  incorrectness.  Profane  expressions. 
Expressions  offensive  to  modesty.  Because  the  errors  of  the  English 
version  are  frequently  transferred  to  the  versions  for  the  heathen, 
and  because  correct  versions  for  the  heathen  do  not  agree  with  the 

Z6 


REV.     THOMAS     ARMITAGE,     D.  D. 

English  version.  Sectarianism  of  the  common  version.  Because  the 
erroneous  translations  are  used  to  deduce  arguments  against  the 
Bible. 

The  Bible  Union  is  not  sectarian,  as  is  the  general  belief.  Says 
a  statement:  "The  preliminary  revisers  were  selected  as  the  veiy 
best  scholars  that  could  be  procured,  from  nine  different  denomina- 
tions. The  final  committee  is  chosen  without  any  reference  to  de- 
nominations. 

The  work  is  supported  by  voluntary  contributions,  life  member- 
ships, life  directorships,  bequests,  and  the  sale  of  the  publica- 
tions. The  receipts  of  the  first  year  wei-e  $5,595  55,  and  of  the 
seventh  year,  (1856,)  $45,203  79.  Some  embarrassment  was  ex- 
perienced by  reason  of  the  war,  obliging  retrenchment  and  delay  in 
the  publication  of  the  works.  The  expenses  are  now  sixty -seven 
thousand  dollars  per  annum.  Up  to  1863  a  sum  not  less  than  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  had  been  expended  for  literary  labor  and 
a  library.  Of  the  various  publications,  including  revisions  of  the 
Book  of  Job  in  various  forms,  Matthew  in  part,  Mark,  Luke,  John, 
Acts,  Ephesians,  Thessalonians,  in  various  forms,  Hebrews,  Phile- 
mon, First  Peter  to  Eevelations,  inclusive,  there  had  been  issued,  in 
1860,  1,060,121  copies.  A  large  library,  of  inestimable  value,  has 
been  collected  for  the  work  at  a  cost  of  about  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
The  catalogue  embraces  photographs,  lithographed  fac  similes  of 
some  of  the  most  ancient  manuscripts  of  the  Bible  now  in  existence, 
copies  of  every  edition  of  the  Bible  ever  issued,  which  are  of  any 
antiquarian  value,  and  the  works  of  the  great  scholars  in  diffei'cnt 
languages  who  have  ever  directed  their  attention  to  this  subject 
Among  other  rare  works  are  the  Complutensian  Polyglot,  in  six 
volumes,  printed  in  1513,  containing  the  Scriptures  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  Chaldaic,  and  Latin  ;  a  manuscript  written  in  the  fifth  century  ; 
a/ac  simile  of  an  old  Sclavic  manuscript  New  Testament,  magnifi- 
cently illuminated ;  a  Bible  printed  in  1473 ;  an  illuminated  Bible 
printed  in  1480;  and  a  lithograj)hic  copy  of  a  manuscript  written  in 
the  third  century,  discovered  in  the  monastery  of  St  Catherine  on 
Mount  Sinai,  beside  other  rare  relics  of  antiquity. 

The  published  revisions  are  works  of  great  interest  to  the  Bible 
reader  and  student  Each  book  contains  an  elaborate  introduction 
and  the  Hebrew  or  Greek  text,  and  the  King  James  and  the  revised 
versions  in  parallel  columns,  with  copious  notes.  The  Book  of  Job 
may  be  particularly  mentioned  for  its  depth  of  erudition  and  beauty 

29 


REV.     THOMAS     ARMITAGE,     D.  D. 

of  typography.  Forty-nine  thousand  copies,  bound,  of  the  version 
in  English  have  already  been  distributed ;  also  a  large  number  in 
other  languages. 

Dr.  Armitage  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  has  a  well-propor- 
tioned, erect  figure.  With  a  light  complexion  and  brown  hair,  he 
has  small,  bright,  hazel  eyes,  which  have  a  constant  and  peculiar 
twinkle.  The  expression  of  his  face  is  one  of  mingled  intelligence 
and  kindliness.  As  he  converses  it  is  lit  with  animation,  and  his  eyes 
sparkle  like  two  diamonds.  His  manners  are  easy,  graceful,  and 
cordial.  There  are  few  men  of  more  prepossessing  powers  of  mien 
and  speech.  He  fascinates  strangers  and  delights  friends  as  much 
with  one  as  the  other.  The  heart  and  mind  fall  at  once  under  the 
influence  of  his  impulsive,  generous  warmth  of  manner,  and  of  his 
kindly,  just,  and  liberal  sentiments.  He  stands  to  the  gaze  a  pol- 
ished gentleman,  and  he  wins  his  way  to  your  esteem  and  affection 
by  exalted  worthiness  as  a  man. 

He  is  a  person  of  hopeful,  elastic  spirits,  being  neither  over- 
elated  with  success  nor  depressed  by  defeat.  He  has  a  courage  for 
any  undertakirig,  and  a  patience  which  can  wait  long  for  victory. 
Once  embarked  in  any  scheme,  it  enlists  his  boundless  enthusiasm 
and  awakens  giant  energies.  He  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  an 
enterprise  which  cannot  kindle  this  ardor  of  soul,  but  in  behalf  oi 
those  that  do  he  will  bear  the  heaviest  burden  of  its  cares,  and  still 
ask  the  meanest  of  its  laurels.  He  is  conscientious  in  the  discharge 
of  every  duty  devolving  upon  him,  regardless  of  personal  ease  and 
even  health.  In  truth,  he  is  an  earnest,  successful  worker  in  every 
sphere  of  Christian  effort,  inspiring  those  who  falter  by  a  heroism 
which  is  sublime. 

Dr.  Armitage  is  an  eloquent  and  powerful  preacher.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  truthful  description  of  him  as  he  appears  in  the  pulpit: 
"  His  voice  is  clear,  musical,  soft,  and  silvery.  He  has  great  power 
over  it.  His  gentle  tones  seem  to  creep  quietly  into  every  ear  in  the 
house  while  he  reads  the  opening  hymn.  The  audience  listens,  as 
though  it  never  heard  that  most  familiar  hymn  before.  His  sermons 
are  invariably  composed  of  climaxes,  which  rise,  like  inverted 
pyramids,  higher  and  higher  to  the  close.  When  he  begins  to  ascend 
the  steps  of  the  advancing  argument  his  voice  falls  to  a  low,  soft 
tone.  The  forefinger  of  his  right  hand  is  raised,  pointing  horizontally 
over  the  audience.  At  every  step  of  progress  he  lifts  his  hand  and 
voice  together,  upward  and  upward  still,  till  the  climax  is  reached, 

30 


EEV.     THOMAS     ARMITAGE,    D,  D. 

when,  raising  his  eyes  from  the  manuscript,  in  a  tone  of  thunder  he 
lays  the  top  stone  of  the  argument.  It  would  seem  that  the  whole 
vocabulary  of  the  English  language  is  at  his  command.  In  his  own 
pulpit  he  more  frequently  preaches  without  the  manuscript  than 
otherwise,  whether  he  has  written  the  discourse  or  not" 

Dr.  Armitage  is  a  born  orator  in  the  fullest  sense.  As  he  weaves 
his  beautiful  imaginings,  or  as  he  springs  into  the  realms  of  a  wild, 
impassioned  eloquence,  he  equally  fixes  the  attention  and  enchains' 
the  sensibilities.  His  thoughts  are  highly  original,  they  glitter  with 
a  chaste  and  ardent  fancy,  and  are  infused  with  the  vigor  and  frank- 
ness peculiar  to  his  own  nature.  Endowed  witb  the  greater  gifts 
of  eloquence,  a  man  of  extensive  learning  and  the  highest  social 
culture,  he  justly  holds  a  foremost  place  among  the  eminent  ex- 
pounders of  Divine  truth,  and  in  the  ranks  of  upright  and  popular 
men. 

31 


EEY.  LUCIUS   W.  BANCROFT,  D.  D., 

K-ECTOR     OF     CHRIST     (ET>ISCOI»A.IL.)    CHXJKCIi, 
BKOOKHLiYN. 


lEV.  DR.  LUCIUS  W.  BANCROFT  was  born  in  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  August  27th,  1827.  He  was  graduated  at 
Brown  University,  in  1852,  and  in  theology  at  the  Epis- 
copal Seminary  at  Alexandria,  Yirginia,  in  1856.  In 
same  year,  while  still  in  Alexandria,  he  was  made  a  dea- 
Ii!3  con,  by  Bishop  Meade,  of  Virginia,  and  in  1858,  a  priest  in  Prov- 
idence, by  Bishop  Clark,  of  Rhode  Island.  He  had  taken  the 
position  of  assistant  rector  at  St.  John's  Church,  Providence,  in  which 
he  remained  about  two  years.  He  then  traveled  in  Europe  for  a 
time,  and  on  his  return  took  temporary  charge  of  St  Paul's  Church, 
Boston,  for  six  months.  After  this,  he  spent  two  years  as  rector  of 
Christ  Church,  Bridgeport.  He  was  next  elected  Professor  of  Ec- 
clesiastical History  in  the  Episcopal  Seminaiy  at  Gambler,  Ohio, 
where  he  remained  five  years,  and  then  filled  the  same  chair  in  the 
Episcopal  Seminary  in  Philadelphia,  for  a  short  time,  when,  in  1869, 
he  accepted  a  call  to  Christ  Church,  corner  of  Clinton  and  Harrison 
streets,  Brooklyn.  He  received  the  degree  of  D.  J),  from  Utica 
College,  about  ten  years  since. 

Christ  Churcb  parish  was  organized  on  the  17th  of  May,  1835, 
but  it  was  about  two  years  later  before  stated  public  woi-ship  was  held 
in  a  chapel  erected  on  the  corner  of  Pacific  and  Court  streets.  The 
pulpit  was  temporarily  supplied  until  February,  1838,  when  Rev. 
Kingston  Goddard  became  rector.  Such  was  the  increase  of  the 
parish  that  on  the  26th  of  June,  1841,  the  corner-stone  of  a  new 
church  edifice  was  laid,  the  site  being  the  liberal  gift  of  Nicholas 
Luqueer,  Esq.,  a  member  of  the  body,  and  a  wealthy  citizen.  A 
substantial,  imposing,  and  spacious  building  of  brown  freestone  was 
erected,  duly  consecrated  on  the  28th  of  July,  1842,  and  occupied 

32 


REV.     LUCIUS    W.     BAK  CROFT,    D.D. 

for  public  worsliip  on  the  following  Sunday,  the  3d  of  August 
The  valuation  of  the  property  is  over  $100,000,  and  there  is  no  debt. 
Mr,  Goddard  resigned  in  April,  1841,  and  in  the  succeeding  June, 
Rev.  Dr.  Stone  accepted  a  call  to  the  rectorsliip.  In  January,  1853, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Canfield  became  the  successor  of  Dr.  Stone. 
During  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Canfield  a  debt  of  $13,500  was  paid,  and 
a  Mission  Chapel  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Luqueer 
streets,  at  a  cost  of  about  $13,000.  From  1853  to  1863,  ten  years 
of  Dr.  Canfield's  labors,  the  congregation  contributed  for  charitable 
objects  the  sum  of  $92,589.28.  In  the  same  period  there  were  in 
the  parish  813  baptisms,  312  confirmations,  184  marriages,  433 
funerals,  and  1697  public  services.  The  congregation  consists  of 
about  200  families.  When  Dr.  Canfield  resigned  the  rectorship, 
Dr.  Bancroft  was  called,  and  under  his  efficient  labors  the  parish 
still  maintains  its  high  rank  as  a  pious  and  liberal  body  of  Chris- 
tians. 

Dr.  Bancroft  is  tall  and  erect,  with  an  intellectual  head.  His  face 
is  amiable,  but  it  is  one  of  those  which  bespeaks  the  rigid  princi- 
ples of  the  man.  In  his  manners  and  disposition  he  is  naturally 
reserved.  He  shows  a  strict  politeness  to  all,  and  falls  into  an  easy 
conversation,  but  there  is  always  a  noticeable  formality  and  reserve 
in  botJa  speech  and  actions.  His  tastes  are  all  scholarly  and  do- 
mestic. In  the  pursuit  of  learning,  in  his  own  pastoral  duties,  and 
in  the  home  circle,  he  finds  all  the  influences  to  which  he  surrenders 
himself.  His  preaching  excels  in  the  particulars  of  a  deep  piety, 
and  intimate  knowledge  with  all  religious  subjects.  His  life  in  the 
ministry  has  been  unobtrusive,  as  far  as  any  attempt  to  gain  pub- 
lic ftime  is  concerned,  but  it  has  been  characterized  by  a  conscien- 
tiousness and  ability  in  his  work,  which  have  secured  the  utmost 
prosperity  of  his  parishes.  He  is  admired  wherever  he  is  known 
for  his  learning,  consistency  of  personal  conduct,  and  his  zeal  in 
the  ministerial  labors. 

33 


KEY.   ALFRED  B.  BEACH,   D.  D., 

RECTOR  OF  ST.  i»e:tjer's  i:p»iscoi»a.il.  cjhxjrch, 

T««^  E  ^^V     Y  O  R  It  . 


M^^EV.  DR  ALFEED  B.  BEACH  has  been  settled  in  the  city 
'Mifn%l^  of  New  York,  as  the   Eector  of  St.    Peter's   Episcopal 

P|j^  Church  in  West  Twentieth  street,  for  over  twenty  years. 
^^^  He  was  born  at  Sheldon,  Franklin  county,  Yermont,  Sep- 
^p  tember  9th,  1821.  His  early  studies  were  at  the  academy  at 
^  Cheshire,  Connecticut,  then  under  the  charge  of  Eev.  Dr.  Allen 
C.  Morgan.  He  graduated  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  in  18-11,  and 
in  theology  at  the  Greneral  Episcopal  Seminary,  New  York,  in  1845. 
During  the  same  year  he  was  admitted  to  deacon's  orders  at  Christ 
church,  Hartford,  by  Bishop  Brownell,  and  in  1847  to  priest's  orders 
at  Christ  church,  Cooperstown,  New  York,  by  Bishop  Delancey.  His 
lirst  place  of  settlement  was  at  Cooperstown,  in  1845,  where  he  re- 
mained until  November,  1848,  when  he  went  to  St.  John's  church, 
Canandaigua,  New  York.  He  officiated  at  St.  John's  until  May, 
1853,  when  he  removed  to  New  York,  having  accepted  a  call  to  his 
present  rectorship.  Dr.  Beach  mai'ried  a  daughter  of  the  dis- 
tinguished Mr.  Justice  Nelson,  late  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court. 

The  history  of  St.  Peter's  church  dates  back  to  the  year  1827, 
when  services  were  commenced  in  the  chapel  of  the  Ceneral  Theolo- 
gical Seminary  in  West  Twentieth  street,  by  the  professors  of  the  in- 
stitution, and  a  Sunday  School  was  opened  by  the  students.  x\t  this 
period  the  neighborhood  was  thinly  settled,  and  the  effort  was  under- 
taken as  a  mere  missionary  work.  Such  was  its  success,  however, 
that  the  Eev.  Dr.  Benjamin  I.  Haight,  now  and  for  many  years  a  dis- 
tinguished assistant  minister  of  Trinity  parish,  was  called  as  the  rector. 
The  parish  was  incorporated  May  9  th,  1831,  and  Dr.  Haight  was 
called  July  13th,  1831.  Steps  were  taken  to  provide  a  proper  church. 
The  corner-stone  for  a  church  was  laid  October  8th,  1831,  on  West 
Twentieth  street,  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  avenues,   and  on  the 

34 


^^^^^.^  ^,  ^, 


^^  ^:^ 


KEY.      ALFRED     B.      BEACH,     D.  P. 

completion  of  the  building  it  was  occupied  by  a  congregation  of  still 
increasing  numbers.  In  a  few  years  still  greater  accommodations  be- 
came necessary,  as  the  congregation  had  become  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  city.  Accordingly,  in  1836-37,  the  large  stone  edifice 
now  occupied  was  erected  on  lots  adjoining  the  first  structure.  This 
property  cost  one  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand  dollars.  A  debt  of 
fifty  thousand  dollars  has  been  paid,  and  an  additional  building  has 
been  erected.  The  original  church  edifice  has  been  altered  into  a  rec- 
tory. There  are  at  present  about  three  hundred  communicants,  and  six 
hundred  and  fifty  children  in  the  Sunday  School.  The  superintendent 
is  George  P.  Quackenbos,  A.  M.,  the  eminent  author  of  school  books. 

Dr.  Beach  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Columbia  College  in 
June,  1857.  He  has  published  various  sermons  and  addresses.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Court  appointed  to  try  the  case  of 
the  Eev.  Stephen  H.  Tj-ng,  Jr.  He  discharged  his  duties  with  much 
dignity  and  learning. 

He  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  equally  proportioned.  His  face 
shows  intellectuality  and  much  force  of  character.  The  features  are 
regular,  and  the  brow  is  especially  prominent.  In  his  expression 
there  is  some  little  sternness,  but  this  is  more  a  token  of  the  decision 
and  firmness  which  characterize  him  than  of  any  want  of  gentleness 
in  either  manners  or  speech.  He  is  a  man  of  fixed  opinions,  self- 
reliant  and  positive  in  regard  to  his  course  of  action;  but  on  the  other 
hand,  he  is  never  hasty  in  forming  conclusions  or  in  his  actions.  You 
find  him  conscientious  in  everything.  His  line  of  duty  is  always  well 
defined,  and  it  is  never  deviated  from  in  the  slightest  particular. 
Hence  it  is  not  remarkable  that  he  has  secured  so  large  an  influence 
among  his  people,  and  in  fact  in  his  whole  denomination. 

Always  patient,  self-sacrificing  and  earnest  in  his  ministerial  work, 
he  has  taken  the  certain  means  of  making  it  of  the  highest  advantage 
to  his  fellow  creatures  and  the  church  at  large.  Trae  and  devoted  to 
his  doctrines,  he  has  maintained  them  because  of  his  love  for  them 
and  because  it  was  his  duty,  but  never  in  any  spirit  of  mere  hostility 
to  the  opinions  or  prejudices  of  other  men.  He  stands  fixedly  to  the 
doctrines  and  government  of  the  church  of  which  he  is  a  minister, 
and  it  is  for  these  that  he  contends  in  all  their  purity  and  sanctity, 
and  not  for  the  persecution  of  any  man  for  his  opinions  or  actions. 

Dr.  Beach's  preaching  is  marked  by  the  same  solid  practical 
features  which  characterize  him  in  other  respects.  All  his  views 
have  a  scope  and  power  which  arrest  attention.     He  speaks  with 

35 


REV.     ALFRED     B.      BEACH,     D.  D. 

deliberation,  anJ  both  tone  and  manner  have  a  serious  impressiveness. 
While  he  is  scholarly  in  his  mode  of  discussion,  he  is  not  less  partial 
to  the  common  sense  branch  of  all  subjects.  His  sermons  please 
and  instruct :  thej  lift  the  hearei"  to  a  more  elevated  spirituality, 
and  cause  a  closer  communing  with  one's  own  conscience.  They 
have  scholarship  and  inspiration,  and  they  have  also  the  calm  tender 
pleading,  which  first  softens  and  then  saves  the  human  heart  from  its 
sins. 

This  is  a  ministry  which  has  been  not  only  successful,  but  in 
which  the  purity  of  character,  and  the  devoted  labor  of  the  indi- 
vidual must  stand  as  an  example  to  all  men  forever.  True  to  every 
duty  as  a  clergyman,  a  citizen,  and  in  every  private  relation,  Dr, 
Beach  has  made  the  actions  of  his  life  teachers  of  principle  to  his 
fellow-men. 

36 


^^^  '^fCrhSe^C^-U^ 


REY.  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER, 

I»A.©TOR  OF  I»LY3IOUTII  C01SGTntlGA.T'I<:HSA.T4 


^0  CLEEGY^rAK  in  the  United  States  bas  attracted 
to  himself  the  wide-spread  attention  which  has  been 
bestowed  upon  the  Rev.  Hemy  Ward  Beecher.  His 
position  in  the  religio^^s,  political,  literary,  and  social 
world  is  one  of  commanding  influence,  and  his  great  and 
varied  talents  are  always  most  conspicuous.  He  has  been 
discussed  from  everj^  standpoint  of  criticism,  and  still  is  a  man  of  the 
widest  popularity. 

Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  the  son  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Ly- 
man Beecher,  and  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  June  24th, 
1813.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Con- 
gregational clergymen  and  scholars  of  his  day,  and  he  reared  a 
large  family,  all  of  whom  have  obtained  distinction  in  some  of  the 
scholarly  walks  of  life.  Several  of  the  sons  are  clergymen,  and 
Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  authoress  of  •'  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and 
other  works,  is  a  distinguished  daughter.  Henry  Ward  was  grad- 
uated at  Amherst  College,  in  1834,  and  studied  theology  with  his 
father  at  Lane  Seminary,  Cincinnati.  In  1837,  in  his  twenty-fourth 
year,  he  accepted  his  first  charge  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  at 
Lawrenceburg,  Indiana,  where  he  remained  two  years.  He  next 
removed  to  Indianapolis,  where  he  continued  eight  years,  until 
1847.  He  was  a  popular  preacher  in  the  West,  having  those 
powers — natural  eloquence  and  fearless  independent  character — 
which  are  so  highly  valued  by  the  people  of  that  section. 

In  1847,  lie  accepted  a  call  to  his  present  charge  as  pastor  of 
Plymouth  Congregational  Church,  Brooklyn.  He  left  the  West  with 
many  regrets,  scarcely  believing  that  a  city  like  Brovoklyn  was  the 
proper  field  of  labor  for  him.     His  peculiar  style  of  preaching  had 


HENKY     WARD     BEECHER. 

never  been  heard  there ;  and,  in  fact,  it  was  so  nmoh  of  an  innova- 
tion upon  the  kind  which  was  in  vogue,  that  its  success  might  well 
be  deemed  doubtful. 

The  congregation  which  called  him  was  a  new  organization  of 
orthodox  Congregational  believers.  They  had  purchased  the  church 
property  on  Cranberry  and  Orange  streets,  formerly  occupied  by  the 
Presbyterian  Congregation  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  and 
were  chiefly  New  England  people. 

The  following  is  an  interesting  historical  account  of  this  congre- 
gation : 

"  Plymouth  Church  stands  upon  ground  comprising  seven  lots, 
running  through  from  Cranberry  to  Orange  streets.  It  was  pur- 
chased in  18'23  of  John  and  Jacob  M.  Hicks  for  the  erection  of 
an  edifice  for  the  use  of  "  The  First  Presbyterian  Church."  The 
population  of  Brooklyn  was  then  less  than  10,000.  It  was  re- 
garded by  cautious  men  as  a  hazardous  enterprise,  for  the  church 
was  built  in  what  was  then  cultivated  fields,  and  far  out  from  the 
settled  portion  of  the  village,  though  now  in  the  densest  part  of 
Brooklyn  Heights.  The  pastors  who  labored  on  this  ground  were 
Rev.  Joseph  Sandford,  from  1823  to  1829  ;  Rev.  Daniel  L.  Cai-roll, 
D.  D.,  from  1829  to  1885 ;  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  D.  D.,  from  1837 
to  1847,  when  the  Presbyterian  Society  built  their  present  house  of 
worship  upon  Henry  street.  In  1846  John  T.  Howard,  then  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  of  the  Pilgrims  in  Brooklyn,  Rev.  R.  S.  Storrs, 
Jr.,  pastor,  learning  that  the  premises  were  for  sale,  obtained  the 
refusal  of  them  from  the  trustees  at  the  price  of  $20,000,  and  con- 
sulted with  David  Hale,  of  the  Tabernacle  Church,  New  York,  as  to 
the  expediency  of  establishing  a  new  Congregational  Church  at  this 
location.  Encouraged  by  the  support  of  Mr.  Hale,  Mr.  Howard 
completed  the  contract  of  purchase  on  June  11th,  1846.  Possession 
was  given  on  the  10th  of  May,  1847.  The  first  meeting  of  those 
interested  in  the  establishment  of  the  new  Church  was  held  at  the 
house  of  Henry  C.  Bowen,  on  Saturday  evening,  May  8th,  1847. 
There  were  present  David  Hale,  of  New  York  ;  Ira  Payne,  John  T. 
Howard,  Charles  Rowland,  David  Grifl&n,  and  Henry  C.  Bowen,  of 
Brooklyn.  It  was  there  resolved,  '  that  religious  services  shall  be 
commenced,  by  Divine  permission,  on  Sunday,  the  16th  day  of  May ;' 
and  on  that  morning,  in  1847,  the  meeting  house  in  Cranberry  street 
was  opened  for  religious  worship. 

"  Henry  "Ward  Beecher,  who  was  then  pastor  of  the  Second  Pres- 

38 


HENRY     WARD     BEECHER. 

byterian  Cburcli,  in  Indianapolis,  had  visited  New  York  at  this  time 
at  the  request  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  to  make  a 
public  address  a-t  its  anniversary.  He  was  invited  to  preach  at  the 
opening  of  this  Church,  and  accordingly  preached,  both  in  the  morn- 
ing and  evening,  to  audiences  -which  crowded  every  part  oi"  the 
"building.  On  Monday  evening,  June  14th,  1847,  the  Church,  by  a 
unanimous  vote,  elected  Henry  Ward  Beecher  to  be  their  pastor. 
On  the  19th  of  August,  Mr.  Beecher  wrote  from  Indianapolis  accept- 
ing the  pastorate.  On  Sunday,  the  lOth  of  October,  1847,  he  com- 
menced his  labors.  In  the  morning  the  Church  was  about  three- 
fourths  full,  and  entirely  full  in  the  evening.  This  continued  to  be 
the  case  for  about  four  months,  after  which  the  building  was  gen- 
erally crowded  both  moi-ning  and  evening.  From  the  year  1849  to 
1866  there  was  a  frequent  recurrence  of  revivals  at  the  Church,  and 
large  accessions  to  the  number  of  its  members.  With  a  few  excep- 
tions, consequent  upon  ill  health,  a  visit  to  Europe  and  a  lecturing 
tour  in  behalf  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  Mr.  Beecher  has  labored 
steadily  at  his  post  since  1847.  He  has  a  Summer  vacation  every 
year,  which  generally  lasts  upon  an  average  about  six  weeks. 

"  On  the  13th  of  January,  1849,  Plymouth  Church  was  seriously 
damaged  by  fire,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  Church  should  be 
entirely  rebuilt.  The  corner-stone  of  this  edifice  was  laid  May  '29th, 
1849,  and  the  building  was  completed  so  as  to  be  occupied  by  the 
congregation  on  the  first  Sunday  in  January,  1850.  The  Church  is 
105  feet  long,  80  feet  broad,  and  accommodates  2,800  people.  Lec- 
ture rooms  and  school  rooms  were  also  built,  and  the  entire  cost  of 
the  Church  was  about  $36,000,  and  the  former  also  a  large  sum.  In 
1866  a  new  organ  was  purchased  at  an  expense  of  $22,000.  In  1869 
the  pew  rents  realized  about  $53,000.  The  Bethel,  in  Hicks  street, 
has  been  built  by  the  Church  at  a  cost  of  about  $75,000.  School 
services  on  Sunday  evenings,  lectures  and  a  free  reading  room  are  a 
part  of  the  agencies  of  this  Bethel.  It  has  done  and  is  doing  the 
greatest  amount  of  good  to  the  more  neglected  part  of  the  population. 
A  new  Bethel  has  been  erected  in  another  part  of  the  city.  In  view 
of  all  these  facts,  Plymouth  Church  may  be  said  to  be  a  Church  in 
earnest." 

In  October,  1872,  services  took  place  during  several  days  to  com- 
memorate the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the 
congregation.  A  movement  was  inaugurated  to  raise  fifty  thousand 
dollars  for  the  support  of  their    nissions.     At  the  annual  business 


HENRY    WARD    BEECHER. 

meeting  of  the  trustees  it  was  sliown  that  there  were  2,184  names 
upon  the  registry  of  the  Church.  From  the  treasurer's  report,  it 
{Jppears  that  the  annual  collection  amounted  to  $15,554  97  ;  for  the 
poor,  $1,079  18 ;  pew  rentals,  $60,000 ;  contributions  of  three 
schools,  $8,054  56.     Total,  $79,683.  65. 

In  1856,  Mr.  Beecher  took  an  active  part  in  the  Presideniial  con- 
test in  favor  of  Fremont — not  only  with  his  pen,  but  by  addressing 
mass  meetings  in  different  parts  of  the  Xorthern  States.  As  a  popu- 
lar lecturer  he  has  appeared  very  generallj^  before  the  Lyceums  of 
the  counuy.  Pie  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  religious  weekly 
paper  called  the  Independent,  of  ISTew  York,  and  was  for  some  time 
its  editor.  Later  he  founded  the  Christian  Union^  and  is  still  its 
editor,  and  a  large  owner.  He  has  published  a  volume  of  "  Lectures 
to  Young  Men,"  a  volume  of  "  Star  Papers,"'  made  up  of  his  con- 
tributions to  the  Independent,  and  other  volumes  of  popular  litera- 
ture. He  edited  the  •'  Plymouth  Collection  of  Hymns,"  which  is 
one  of  the  best  and  most  diversified  collections  of  sacred  poetry  in 
the  En2:lish  language,  and  is  now  in.  use  in  the  Congregational  and 
other  Churches.  Six  series  of  his  sermons  have  been  published  in 
uniform  volumes.  Many  of  his  occasional  addresses  have  been  pub- 
lished, and  he  has  contributed  much  to  the  literary  press. 

During  the  late  war  he  went  to  England,  where  he  addressed 
immense  audiences  in  the  principal  cities  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of 
the  Union.  He  produced  a  marked  effect,  particularly  as  the  Con- 
federate agents  made  an  attempt  to  put  him  down ;  and  probably 
accomplished  more  in  influencing  the  English  masses  than  any  man 
who  went  abroad.  There  is  a  collection  of  handbills  and  posters, 
some  of  them  printed  in  red  ink,  at  the  Brooklvn  Historical  Society, 
which  were  us3d  to  incite  public  feeling  against  him.  In  April,  1865, 
he  went  to  Charleston,  at  the  request  of  the  Government,  and  deliv- 
ered an  oration  on  the  occasion  of  the  raising  of  the  old  flag  over 
Fort  Sumter. 

Mr.  Beecher  is  of  medium  height,  solid  si*newy  figure,  and  has  a 
large  head,  with  a  rather  florid  complexion.  His  features  are  regu- 
lar, and  highly  expressive  of  intellectuality,  and  a  genial  disposition. 
His  step  is  quick,  and  he  shows  in  every  way  that  he  is  a  thorough- 
going man,  and  as  bold  as  he  is  generous.  His  eloquence  is  charac- 
terized by  originality,  logic,  pathos,  and  not  a  little  humor.  While 
his  voice  is  not  a  pleasant  one,  it  is  full  of  feeling,  distinct   and 

40 


HENRY    WARD    BEECHER. 

strong.      He  has  a  great  deal  of  gesticulation,  and  sometimes  his 
voice  rings  out  to  the  utmost  power  of  his  capacious  lungs. 

At  the  close  of  some  very  fine  congregational  singing,  Mr.  Beecher 
rises  to  begin  his  sermon.  He  commences  in  a  moderate  tone  of 
voice,  and  confines  himself  to  a  pretty  close  reading  of  his  notes. 
As  he  proceeds  he  warms  up  in  his  subject,  grows  eloquent,  and 
succeeds  in  fixing  the  deepest  attention  by  the  force  of  his  argu- 
ments, and  the  original  and  often  humorous  similes  which  he  con- 
stantly introduces.  He  shakes  back  his  hair,  draws  a  long  breath  to 
be  sure  that  his  lungs  are  in  order,  withdraws  a  step  or  two  from  the 
desk,  and  folds  his  arms  across  his  breast,  as  if  for  bands  to  keep 
him  from  breaking  his  ribs  in  the  coming  effort  After  all  this  pre- 
paration, instantaneously  made,  he  at  once  soars  to  the  highest  efforts 
of  oratory.  At  one  moment  tears  are  starting  to  almost  every  eye, 
and  the  next  the  congregation  are  in  a  broad  smile,  which  sometimes 
ends  in  a  loud  laugh.  He  utters  words  of  the  keenest  sarcasm,  and 
then  he 'melts  away  into  thoughts  of  holiness  and  love.  At  another 
time  he  gesticulates  most  violently  ;  he  paces  up  and  down  the  pulpit 
in  great  agitation  ;  he  runs  to  first  one  corner  of  the  desk  and  then 
the  other  ;  pounds  and  shakes  his  fist,  bends  forward  and  backward ; 
and,  finally,  in  a  whirlwind  of  excitement,  and  in  a  voice  of  thunder, 
pours  forth  a  torrent  of  language  which  the  want  of  breath  only 
induces  him  to  suspend.  He  makes  your  heart  bound  with  emotion  ; 
he  tempts  the  most  solemn  into  smiles,  and  stands  a  wonder  as  an 
orator.  That  he  is  a  mighty  thinker,  and  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  living  orators,  cannot  be  denied-  While  he  is  speaking  the  old 
and  young  are  held  in  wrapt  attention,  and  there  is  no  subject  but 
what  he  discusses  with  singular  originality  and  brilliancy.  His  ser- 
mons are  very  long,  but  neyer  tiresome.  The  thoughts  are  profound 
and  new,  and  they  are  demonstrated  with  ability  and  eloquenca 
His  learning,  ingenious  arguments,  and  interweavings  of  pathos  and 
humor  make  the  whole  discourse  most  effective. 

He  is  a  man  of  genial  disposition,  and  of  warm  attachments ; 
and  he  has  secured  idolizing  friends.  His  sympathies  are  with  all 
works  of  education  and  philanthropy,  and  he  is  altogether  without 
sectarian  prejudices.  In  truth,  he  is  one  who  for  many  noble 
qualities  of  character,  joined  with  extraordinary  gifts  as  a  preacher, 
has  secured  a  wider  public  and  private  esteem  than  any  man  erf 
his  day. 


REY.  HENRY  W.  BELLOWS,  D.  D., 

E»j^©TOR     OF     AJLjJL.    SOULS'    XJTVITA.IlIATSr    CHUKCM, 

]vi2W  'romt. 


lEV.  DR.  HENRY  W.  BELLOWS,  pastor  of  All  Souls' 
Unitarian  Cbnrcli,  Fourth  avenue,  was  born  in  Boston, 
June  11th,  1814.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1832,  entered  the  divinity  school  at  Cambridge  in  1834, 
and  completed  bis  course  in  1837.  On  the  2d  of  January, 
1838,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church,  in  New  York.  He  was  the  principal  originator  of  the  Chris- 
tian Inquirer^  a  Unitarian  paper  of  New  York,  in  which  he  was  the 
main  writer  from  1846  until  the  middle  of  1850,  Li  1851  he 
received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Harvard.  His  present  congrega- 
tion is  the  same  over  which  he  was  first  ordained,  although  they  are 
now  classed  as  Unitarians,  and  have  twice  changed  their  place  of 
worship.  Says  another  of  Dr.  Bellows:  "  He  is  a  ready  speaker  and 
popular  lecturer.  His  taste  and  connections  lead  him  to  intimate 
relations  with  artists,  and  engage  him  often  in  questions  of  a  social 
and  philanthropic  character.  He  has  spoken  and  published  his 
views  freely  upon  the  prominent  topics  of  the  day,  and  inclines  to 
deal  with  current  events  rather  than  scholastic  studies.  His  occa 
sional  contributions  to  the  Christian  Examiner  are  marked  by  inde 
pendence  of  thought  and  boldness  of  expressions." 

Dr.  Bellows  has  published  some  twenty-five  pamphlets  and  dis- 
courses, and  some  books.  His  "  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Oration,"  delivered 
in  1853 ;  his  famous  defence  of  the  drama,  delivered  in  1857 ;  and 
"Treatment  of  Social  Diseases,"  a  course  of  lectures  delivered  before 
the  Lowell  Institute,  Boston,  also  in  the  latter  year,  and  a  book  of 
travel  in  Europe,  ar«  the  most  noted  of  his  productions.  He  is  the 
editor  of  the  Liberal  Christian,  a  prominent  religious  journal  of  New 
York. 

Dr.  Bellows  is  not  a  satisfied  man.     He  is  seriously  disturbed 

that  men  take  so  many  roads  to  heaven,  when  they  might  all  go  by 

42 


REV      HENRY     W.      BELLOWS,     D.  D. 

one.  He  has  drawn  up  the  articles  of  a  new  Christian  covenant, 
and  elaborated  a  system  for  a  church  platform  on  which  every 
theologian  can  be  accommodated  with  a  seat  Through  wonderful 
study  he  has  discovered  a  means  by  which  ecclesiastical  fire  and 
water  may  be  made  to  mingle,  and  by  which  the  venom  of  sects  can 
be  changed  into  the  millc  of  human  kindness.  It  is  a  consolidation  of 
Christianity.  It  is  to  overthrow  the  walls  which  keep  God's  child- 
ren apart.  It  is  to  tear  up  present  creeds  and  take  an  enlarged  view 
of  the  Bible.  Dr.  Bellows  has  this  olive  branch  all  ready,  and  longs 
to  put  it  in  the  mouths  of  doves  and  send  it  throughout  the  earth  ; 
but  he  shakes  his  head  and  says  the  times  are  not  ripe  for  it,  and 
probably  never  will  be.  Still,  if  he  had  his  way,  he  would  take  all 
these  creeds  and  send  them  to  a  paper-mill,  and  have  a  broad  sheet 
made,  on  which  should  be  written  the  covenant  of  a  new  and  uni- 
versal church,  and  he  would  go  forth  first  as  an  earthquake,  and 
tumble  down  every  altar,  from  the  old  cathedrals  of  Europe  to 
the  Methodist  rookeries  of  the  back-woods,  and  then,  with  the  lamps 
of  the  virgins,  he  would — another  Aladdin — raise  up  such  a  structure 
as  the  world  had  never  seen ;  and  this  should  be  not  the  church  of 
a  sect,  but  of  mankind,  and  such  should  crown  the  hills  of  eveiy 
land. 

From  this  pleasant  dream  of  Dr.  Bellows,  it  can  be  seen  that  he 
is  a  liberal-minded,  large-hearted  man.  A  few  years  ago  he  nearly 
committed  clerical  suicide.  He  delivered  a  ringing,  thundering,  de- 
fence of  the  poor,  kicked,  reviled  drama,  and  absolutely  recognized 
actors  and  actresses  as  worthy  of  salvation.  The  religious  editors 
rushed  breathless  to  their  offices  and  exhausted  their  inkstands  in 
besmearing  him  with  ridicule  and  drenching  him  with  wrath.  His 
brethren  of  the  ministry  howled  louder  than  a  pack  of  wolves,  and 
many  orthodox  families  threatened  to  fly  from  the  city  inhabited  by 
such  a  monster.  For  a  minister — for  a  man  claiming  to  respect  his 
calling — to  go  out  of  his  way  to  uphold  the  beastly,  sore,  corrupt 
drama,  and  to  associate  with  the  giddy,  wicked,  painted  and  padded 
creatures  of  the  stage,  it  called  for  a  straight-jacket,  if  not  the  spout 
of  the  hydrant  The  panic  was  frightful  and  the  threats  were  dia- 
bolical. The  doctor  stood  in  a  slippery  place.  His  enthusiasm  for 
genius,  his  appreciation  of  an  art,  his  liberal  and  kindly  nature  had 
carried  him  to  an  extreme  position ;  but  in  spite  of  ink,  and  wolves, 
and  orthodox  families,  and  scorn,  and  threats,  he  stood  firm,  and 
even  partook  of  a  dinner  with  the  profane  people.     The  editors  again, 

43 


REV.      HENRY     W.     BELLOWS,     D.  D. 

desired  to  devour  bim,  but  it  was  shrewdly  suspected  that  their 
chief  object  was  to  be  black-mailed  with  a  slice  from  the  dinner. 
The  doctor  ate  of  the  remarkably  good  cheer  which  such  entertainers 
are  sure  to  provide,  and  the  food  of  wisdom  and  counsel  which  he 
had  himself  dispensed,  was  rendered  more  palatable  in  consequence. 
People  who  are  just  as  anxious  as  anybody  else  to  avoid  fire  and 
brimstone  felt  that  one  clergyman,  at  least,  had  sought  to  give  them 
wings  to  rise^  rather  than,  as  usual,  a  millstone  to  hurry  them  down. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  a  great  philanthropic  thought  took 
possession  of  Dr.  Bellows.  Everybody  was  crazy ;  the  young  men 
were  following  the  fife  and  drum,  and  a  large  number  were  disposed 
to  think  war  merely  a  frolic ;  but  the  doctor  declared  it  was  to  be  a 
serious  business,  and  that  disease  would  be  more  potent  than  even 
the  bullet.  He  organized  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  a  work  was 
commenced  which  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  humane  enter- 
prises. The  condition  of  matters  in  the  camps  and  hospitals  was  of 
the  worst  possible  character ;  but  from  chaos  there  was  produced 
system  ;  from  ignorance  came  intelligence ;  and,  instead  of  everything 
conspiring  to  kill  the  soldier,  science,  natural  laws,  and  humanity 
were  all  combined  for  his  safety  and  relief.  Dr.  Bellows  neglected  every 
other  duty  save  this  one,  to  his  mind  of  such  vast  national  importance. 
He  drew  about  him  men  of  equal  zeal ;  he  visited  the  camps  and 
hospitals  in  every  part  of  the  country;  he  stormed  at  "red  tape," 
and  official  stupidity,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  witnessing 
the  complete  success  of  his  system  and  plans,  and  the  constant 
relief  of  untold  suffering.  The  ministering  spirits  of  this  commission 
were  on  the  battle-fields,  and  at  every  sick  couch ;  its  watchfulness 
detected  every  error  of  hospital  management,  and  every  want  of  the 
afflicted,  while  its  influence  in  every  department  of  the  government, 
and  with  the  people,  was  sufiicient  to  make  its  authority  efficient 
and  its  means  ample.  In  fact,  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  the  great 
philanthropic  mission  of  the  day.  Dr.  Bellows  was  its  parent,  its 
never  flagging  spirit,  and  its  daily  slave.  Should  his  idea  of  a  uni- 
versal church  be  but  a  dream  ;  should  no  actor  or  actress  ever  walk 
with  him  in  the  golden  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  certainly  his 
efforts  in  this  newer  scheme  will  adorn  him  with  garlands  forever. 

We  wrote  as  follows  of  him  at  that  time :  "Any  day  at  the  New 
York  ofiice  of  the  Commission,  in  Broadway,  you  may  see  a  pale, 
thin-faced,  modest  bearing  man.  He  attends  to  business  as  if  he  had 
been  brought  up  in  a  counting-room,  is  distressed  if  anything  goes 

44 


REV.     HENRY     W.     BELLOWS,     D,  D. 

wrong,  and  it  is  not  the  fault  of  his  attention  and  energy  if  all  does 
not  go  right  "When  the  sun  of  the  South  is  blazing  its  fullest,  and 
when  the  keen  storms  are  sweeping  along  the  Vii-ginia  mountains, 
he  is  ever  thinking  of  comforts  for  the  soldiers.  And,  then,  how 
sadly  he  speaks  of  the  sick  beds  and  graves  which,  he  tells  you,  are 
stretched  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun.  He  has  written  and 
published  various  reports  of  the  Commission,  which  are  replete  with 
interesting  details  and  facts.  He  also  delivers  addresses  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  work,  which  are  intended  to  keep  the  public  informed 
of  the  vastness  of  the  field,  and  the  necessity  of  their  constant  sup- 
port Dr.  Bellows  possesses  an  amount  of  practical,  homely  sense, 
not  common  to  men  of  his  profession,  and  a  familiarity  with  scientific 
subjects,  which  happily  fit  him  for  the  position  of  president  of  the 
Commission,  and  have  led  to  much  of  its  success.  Dreamer  as  he  is, 
he  has  shown  himself  not  the  less  an  earnest  worker.  With  a  mind 
crowded  with  its  imaginings  of  beauty,  he  has  been  able  to  do  a 
noble  work  amidst  the  surroundings  of  torrible  war.' 

Br.  Bellows  had  his  dream  of  a  church  edifice.  It  was  to  be  the 
combined  elegance  of  architecture,  and  every  tower,  and  every  arch, 
and  every  inch  of  it  was  to  be  in  a  measure  a  religious  sentiment 
All  of  beauty,  all  of  solemnity,  all  of  religion,  all  of  penitence,  and 
all  of  faith,  were  to  speak  in  its  walls,  its  adornment,  and  its  wor- 
ship. Consequently,  in  the  construction  of  All  Souls'  Church,  be 
bewildered  the  architects  and  astonished  the  town.  Peculiar  in  its 
construction,  it  is  equally'-  novel  in  its  interior  arrangement,  but  as  a 
whole,  is  most  imposing,  tasteful,  and  beautiful. 

The  congregation  is  numerous  and  wealthy.  They  are  exceed- 
ingly proud  of  their  minister,  and  largely  encourage  him  in  his  good 
works. 

Dr.  Bellows  is  not  a  showy  man  in  the  pulpit,  either  in  person 
or  manners.  His  appearance  is  utterly  without  pretension,  and  al- 
most humble,  while  his  manners  are  plain  and  careless  as  to  all 
effect  His  head  is  of  the  intellectual  kind,  his  face  gentle  in  every 
lineament,  and  you  award  him  instantly  the  merit  of  learning,  amia- 
bility, and  goodness.  He  is  a  very  effective  thinker,  and  as  much 
an  efi'ective  speaker.  His  thought  is  original,  his  reasoning  is  pro- 
found, and  both  are  enforced  by  great  earnestness  of  feeling  and 
tone  of  speech.  Religion,  humanity,  goodness,  beauty,  art,  and 
genius  are  the  subjects  of  his  enthusiasm,  and  in  all  his  discourses, 
in  the  pulpit  and  elsewhere,  they  leave  their  line  of  light     His  most 

45 


REV.     HENRY     W.     BELLOWS,     D.    D. 

eloquent  passages  are  when  he  rises  in  amplification  or  climax. 
"  We  want  only  faith  in  the  constitution  as  it  is,"  he  said,  in  a  pow- 
erful sermon—"  faith  in  the  rights  of  political  majorities  to  exercise 
their  legitimate  powers — ^faith  in  the  original  wisdom  of  the  fathers 
— faith  in  humanity — faith  in  Christ  and  in  God,  to  carry  us  tri- 
umphantly through  this  glorious  but  awful  hour  when  the  grandest 
political  structure,  the  providence  of  God  ever  allowed  to  be  erected 
is  to  be  finally  tested  by  earthquake,  and  to  prove,  I  doubt  not,  that 
it  rests  on  the  Kock  of  Ages,  and  will  endure  while  time  shall  last" 
His  voice,  especially  at  such  times,  is  as  clear  and  sweet  as  a  flute ; 
his  intensified  words  fall  upon  the  feelings  like  sparks  upon  tinder, 
and  he  carries  the  hearer  absorbed  and  lost  in  his  eloquence,  while 
in  himself  every  thought  awakens  an  emotion,  and  every  utterance 
has  been  sealed  by  conviction.  He  is  a  fair,  honest  speaker,  with 
nature,  devotion,  and  kindness  glowing  in  all  he  says.  He  is  em- 
phatically one  to  trust — like  Afiection  as  she  entwines  with  her 
tender  arms,  and  like  Mercy,  whose  voice  is  the  truest  melody  of 
love. 

But  perhaps  Dr.  Bellows  is  the  most  interesting  in  his  social 
intercourse.  Any  one  can  approach  him,  and  few  there  are  who  do 
not  love  an  hour  with  him — he  is  so  genial,  so  friendly,  and  so  enter- 
taining. Are  you  sad,  he  is  saddened  also ;  are  you  gay,  he  laughs 
with  you ;  is  your  conversation  of  religion,  of  books,  of  music,  of 
works  of  art,  or  on  the  topics  of  the  day,  he  is  ready  to  discuss  them 
all.  And,  then,  he  has  sucli  a  store  of  information  from  his  reading, 
such  a  critical  taste,  such  new  ideas,  such  just  and  liberal  views^ 
that  he  not  only  instructs  but  captivates.  In  truth,  he  is  not  one 
of  your  gloomy,  sour,  cynical  clergymen,  but  finds  a  silver  lining  in 
every  cloud,  and  seeks  to  plant  flowers  where  so  many  others  would 
sow  thorns.  He  would  have  this  a  happy  world ;  he  would  enjoy 
to  the  fullest  its  rich  blessings,  and  he  would  bring  the  mind  of  man 
in  contact  with  everything  beautiful  on  earth,  to  prepare  it  the  better 
for  heaven.  A  hater  of  bigotry,  a  denouncer  of  Phariseeism,  he  is 
the  upholder  of  purity  and  the  illustration  of  humility.  Bold  in 
the  advocacy  of  truth,  unsparing  in  his  rebuke  of  evil,  he  is  modest 
of  his  triumphs  and  thoughtful  of  his  own  actions.  In  the  com- 
munity, in  the  church,  and  in  the  social  world,  he  stands  a  firm, 
symmetrical  pillar  as  a  guide  and  a  beacon.  The  pillar  will  crumble 
to  decay,  but  the  virtues  of  the  man  are  enduring. 

46  I 


REV.  NICHOLAS   BJERRING, 

r»«IE«T    0¥^    TIIi:    GREEIi    CIIJLPEIL,,    IVEW    YORK. 


)EY.  NICHOLAS  BJERRINa  was  born  in  1831.     He  is 

priest  of  the  Greek  chapel  in  New  York.  There  are 
other  chapels  in  New  Orleans,  San  Francisco,  and  Alaska, 
At  present  the  place  used  is  a  portion  of  the  private  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Bjerring ;  but  lots  have  been  purchased  on 
Lexington  avenue,  near  Fifty-second  street,  where  a  church  in 
the  Byzantine  style  will  eventually  be  erected.  The  chapel  is  very 
beautifully  fitted  and  decorated.  It  is  attended  by  the  Russians  and 
Greeks  of  the  city,  and  many  persons  of  all  denominations,  drawn  by 
curiosity.  Mr.  Bjerring  has  translated  the  service  into  English,  and 
it  is  sometimes  given  in  that  language.  The  estimated  number  of 
members,  including  Greeks  and  Russians,  is  less  than  one  hundred. 
The  Russian  minister,  and  the  members  of  the  embassy  resident  in 
Washington,  attend  these  services  at  intervals,  and  the  Grand  Duke 
Alexis,  while  in  New  York,  also  attended  service  in  the  chapel. 
Mr.  Bjerring  is  the  author  of  a  translation  of  a  work  entitled  "  The 
Ilussian  Oithodox  Church,  a  Treatise  of  her  Origin  and  Life,"  by 
the  Archpriest  Basaroffi 

An  Orthodox  Greek  church  is  generally  built  in  the  form  of  a 
cross.  The  position  of  the  edifice  is  from  west  to  east.  The  inner 
space  of  the  church  is  divided  into  three  principal  parts.  In  the  east 
is  the  altar ;  entrance  to  it  is  not  generally  accorded  to  persons  not 
set  apart  to  service  in  the  church.  The  second  principal  division  is 
the  church  proper,  in  which  the  faithful  meet  for  worship,  The  third 
division  consists  of  an  ante-chamber  and  a  porch,  which  latter  is 
sometimes  called  the  outer,  as  the  former  is  designated  the  inner, 
ante-chamber.  The  inner  ante-chamber  was  once  set  apart  for  the 
catechumens  and  certain  penitents.  It  is  sometimes  called  the  trapeza 
(table  or  dining  hall),  because  here,  in  the  primitive  age  of  the  Church, 
the  love-feast,  or  agapce,  was  held — that  is,  a  meal  consisting  of  the 
gifls  brought  by  the  faithful.  In  the  outer  hall  formerly  stood  the 
penitents  of  the  lowest  grade,  or  those  usually  called  Flentes 

47 


REV.     NICHOLAS     BJERRING. 

As  in  the  temple  of  tlie  Old  Testament  there  were  in  the  holy 
of  holies,  with  the  ark,  also  the  golden  keys,  the  manna,  the  rod 
of  Aaron,  and  the  table  of  the  law,  so  there  are  in  the  Orthodox 
Eastern  Church  also  the  tabernacle,  that  is,  a  vessel  wherein  are 
placed  the  holy  gifts  for  the  sick,  a  cross,  as  the  sign  of  the  eternal 
Priest  of  our  redemption,  and  a  book  of  Grospels,  as  the  depository 
of  His  holy  law,  all  of  which  are  placed  on  the  holy  table.  Behind 
the  holy  table,  toward  the  east,  is  erected  the  throne  for  the  bishop, 
on  both  sides  of  which  are  side  thrones  for  the  clerics  serving  with 
the  bishop.  By  this  is  signified  the  heavenly  seat  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  His  sovereignty  in  the  Church,  and,  at  the  same  time,  also  the 
participation  therein  of  His  holy  apostles  and  their  successors.  At 
the  north  side  of  the  altar  is  placed  the  credence  table,  for  the  due 
preparation  on  it  of  the  holy  gifts  for  the  celebration  of  the  Liturgy. 
The  altar  is  separated  from  the  church  proper  by  a  wooden  partition, 
on  which  are  depicted  the  forms  of  saints.  Through  this  partition 
there  are  three  doors  leading  from  the  sanctuary  to  the  altar. 
On  the  altar  side  the  holy  doors  are  provided  with  a  movable 
curtain.  Through  the  holy  doors  only  a  bishop,  priest,  or  dea- 
con may  enter  the  holy  altar.  The  holy  doors  are  ever  orna- 
mented with  the  picture  of  the  annunciation,  signifying  that 
through  the  incarnation  of  God,  the  Word,  heaven  was  first  opened 
for  the  redemption  of  man ;  and  also  with  the  picture  of  the 
four  evangelists,  because  they,  like  Gabriel,  the  Archangel,  were 
instrumental  in  announcing  to  the  woi-ld  the  heavenly  message  of 
salvation. 

Mr.  Bjerring  is  a  gentleman  in  the  prime  of  life,  talented,  and 
energetic.  He  is  tall  and  gracefully  proportioned.  His  complexion 
is  light,  with  fair  hair  and  large  blue  eyes.  His  manners  are  ex- 
tremely courteous,  and  he  has  a  fluent  earnestness  in  conversation. 
The  favor  with  which  he  is  regarded  by  the  high  dignitaries  of  the 
Greek  church  in  Eussia,  and  also  by  the  Holy  Synod,  is  shown  by  his 
responsible  position  in  this  country.  Since  his  residence  in  New 
York  his  intercourse  with  the  clergy  of  other  denominations,  and 
with  the  most  influential  of  the  people,  has  been  of  a  character  to 
secure  the  esteem  of  all.  At  the  altar  he  is  impressive  in  the  highest 
degree;  and  away  from  it  all  his  functions  as  a  priest  and  gentleman 
are  discharged  in  a  manner  most  conducive  to  the  honor  of  his 

church,  government,  and  of  himself 

48 


\r     '•^^^  -^  ^ 


KEY.  WILLIAM  H.  BOOLE, 

I»^BTOR,   OF  THE    IIEDI>IjVG    MiETHODIST 


lEY.  WILLIAM  H.  BOOLE  was  born  at  Shelburne,  Nova 
Scotia,  April  24th,  1827.  "When  ten  years  of  age  his  father 
came  to  the  city  of  New  York,  which  became  the  home  of 
^^^^^  the  family,  and  was  the  birth-place  of  other  children.  Mr. 
Boole's  early  education  was  obtained  in  the  public  and  private 
t^  schools,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  commenced  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  Henr}^  L.  Clark.  After  about  two  years  he  was  taken 
away  by  his  brother-in-law,  the  celebrated  shipbuilder,  McKay,  and 
with  him  learned  ship-draughting  and  building.  He  entered  the 
Methodist  ministry  in  the  New  York  East  Conference,  in  May,  1854. 
He  was  first  stationed  at  Clinton,  Connecticut,  in  the  same  year;  and 
subsequently  at  New  Britain  and  Sable.  At  the  organization  of 
the  Sickles  Excelsior  Brigade,  Mr.  Boole  joined  the  Fifth  Regiment 
as  chaplain,  and  was  in  the  field  for  nearly  a  year,  resigning  by  reason 
of  a  compound  fracture  of  the  left  wrist,  which  is  not  yet  restored, 
causing  annoyance  in  preaching.  A  young  son  of  Mr.  Boole's  enlisted 
as  a  drummer  in  Duryea's  Zouaves,  and  died  of  congestion  of  the 
lungs  in  one  of  the  military  hospitals. 

He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Country 
of  the  New  York  East  Conference  in  1865,  and  one  of  a  committee 
sent  with  congratulatory  resolutions  to  President  Lincoln,  on  the  sur- 
render of  Lee's  army. 

Mr.  Boole  has  been  pastor  of  various  Methodist  churches  of  New 
York  and  Brooklyn.  He  is  now  serving  an  appointment  to  the 
church  in  East  Seventeenth  Street,  New  York.  He  enjoys  much 
celebrity  as  an  eloquent  and  popular  speaker.  During  the  presiden- 
tial campaign  of  1868,  Mr.  Boole  was  on  the  platform  night  and 
day,  in  different  States,  speaking  for  the  Republican  party. 

In  1861  Mr.  Boole  delivered  a  sermon  entitled  "Antidote  to  Rev. 
H.  J.  Van  Dyke's  Pro-Slavery  Discourse,"  which  attracted  wide  at- 

4,9 


t  REV.     WILLIAM     H.     BOOLE. 

tention.  It  was  afterward  delivered  in  the  form  of  a  lecture,  and 
published  in  a  pamphlet. 

In  1870  he  delivered  a  powerful  speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  New 
York,  on  the  subject,  "Shall  Our  Common  School  System  be  Main- 
tained as  it  is?"  which  was  subsequently  published  in  pamphlet 
form.  A  discourse  on  "The  Bible  in  the  Schools  and  State,''  was 
published,  and  passed  through  several  editions. 

In  June,  1871,  Mr.  Boole  and  other  Methodist  clergymen  of  "  The 
National  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Holiness,"  visited  Salt 
Lake  City  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  taking  an  immense  tent,  in  which 
to  hold  religious  services.  At  Salt  Lake  the  coming  of  the  members 
of  the  Association  was  looked  for  with  great  interest  for  several 
months,  by  both  the  Mormon  and  Gentile  portions  of  the  community. 
Brigham  Young  manifested  his  interest  by  pointed  allusions  in  his 
public  addresses  in  the  Tabernacle  and-  at  Ogden.  The  meetings 
were  opened  on  Sunday,  June  11th,  in  the  tent,  and  were  continued 
until  the  following  Sunday.  On  Friday  evening  Mr.  Boole  preached 
a  sermon  of  remarkable  eloquence,  on  the  Christian  Priesthood  and 
the  Plurality  of  Wives,  viewing  these  subjects  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment standpoint  Brigham  Young,  Orson  Pratt,  Smith,  Cannon,  and 
several  more  of  the  "  Twelve  Apostles  "  were  present,  and  sat  directly 
in  front  of  the  speaker.  The  audience  numbered  not  less  than  three 
thousand,  of  whom  the  majority  were  Mormons. 

Mr.  Boole  has  stated  to  us,  in  regard  to  this  great  sermon,  that 
when  he  rose  to  speak  he  had  very  little  collected  idea  of  the  lan- 
guage he  should  use,  but  he  felt  thoroughly  under  an  inspiration 
from  God  to  do  battle  for  Truth  and  Virtue  with  all  his  mortal 
power.  As  the  sermon  proceeded,  the  proofs  and  logic  of  the  New 
Testament,  as  against  the  pretensions  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints,  so 
moved  the  Mormons  that  they  indulged  in  frequent  interruptions, 
while  its  grand  and  swelling  eloquence  thrilled  both  friends  and  foes. 
Says  an  account : — 

"  As  the  preacher  closed  his  remarks  and  sat  down,  several  Mor- 
mons leaped  upon  the  seats  and  began  loudly  to  opj)ose.  At  this 
point  the  murmurs  of  the  different  factions  added  to  the  storm,  which 
soon  threatened  a  seiious  conflict.  Many  miners — of  whom  there 
were  a  large  number  present — pressed  toward  the  platform  for  the 
protection  of  the  ministers,  their  wives,  and  friends,  while  a  few  drew 
their  revolvers.  Eev.  J.  S.  Inskip  said  to  the  excited  throng,  '  We 
will  not  suffer  any  interruption  here,  on  our  own  ground.     We  are 


REV.     WILLIAM     H.     BOOLE. 

Araerican  citizens,  and  under  the  protection  of  the  United  States 
Government.  At  this  a  loud  shont  arose,  '  Hurrah  for  the  United 
States  Government ! '  which  seemed  to  awe  the  Mormon  beUigerents, 
for  they  soon  ceased  their  noise,  and  slowly  retired." 

Not  only  did  this  learned  and.  fearless  sermon  make  such  an 
assault  upon  Mormon  doctrines  as  had  never  been  so  well  attempted 
before,  but  the  constitutional  right  of  free  speech  was  triumphantly 
vindicated.  Judge  James  B.  McKean,  of  the  United  States  Court 
of  Utah,  in  a  private  letter  to  Mr.  Boole,  under  date  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  October  9th,  1871,  says:  "There  are  so  few  men  in  the  world 
that  could  have  done  successfully  what  you  undertook  here,  in 
preaching  to  Mormons  against  polygamy  and  latter-day  revelations, 
that  I  would  have,  and  I  think  I  did,  advise  against  it.  But  the 
theology,  the  logic,  the  rhetoric,  the  temper,  and  the  tact,  which  you 
brought  to  bear,  were  irresistible.  The  Mormons  for  once  showed 
that  they  felt  themselves  to  be  unhorsed,  and  the  Gentiles  were  ex- 
ultant. That  sermon  will  long  be  remembered  here,  as  something  to 
date  from.  George  L.  Cannon,  himself  hardly  second  in  talent  to 
any  Mormon,  is  reported  to  have  said,  '  That  man  Boole  is  the  ablest 
preacher  that  has  ever  spoken  in  this  city.'  Even  your  enemies  are 
constrained  to  praise  you.     You  need  never  regret  that  effort." 

The  Eev.  T.  De  Witt  Talmage,  in  an  article  entitled  "The  Big 
Tent,"  says :  "  We  found  the  track  of  the  Methodist  tent  all  the  way 
across  the  continent."  In  the  cities  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and  at  many 
camp-meetings  in  the  East,  Mr.  Boole  and  his  ministerial  brethren 
preached  to  vast  audiences. 

Mr.  Boole  is  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Advocate  of  Holiness,  a 
monthly  magazine  published  in  Boston,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
National  Association. 

A  man  of  practical  inclinations  in  everything,  Mr.  Boole  some 
years  since  began  to  interest  himself  in  providing  permanent  camp 
grounds,  with  adjoining  property,  for  furnishing  Christian  families  a 
summer  resort  in  the  midst  of  Christian  influences.  Associated  with 
the  Eev.  W.  B.  Osborn,  he  purchased  the  Ocean  Grove  property  at 
Long  Branch,  New  Jersey,  and  afterward  formed  the  Ocean  Grove 
Camp  Meeting  Association.  The  whole  estate  of  three  hundred 
acres  was  deeded  to  the  Association,  at  the  same  price  for  which  it 
was  first  bought.  A  large  number  of  cottages  have  been  built,  and 
lots  which  sold  originally  at  one  hundred  dollars  have  found  ready 
purchasers  at  one  thousand  dollars. 

51 


REV.     WILLIAM     H.     BOOLE. 

In  December,  1871,  Mr.  Boole  purchased  property  on  Hempstead 
Harbor,  Long  Island,  which  he  called  "Sea  Cliflf  Grove,"  and  subse- 
quently conveyed,  for  the  same  price  he  gave  for  it,  to  the  Sea  Cliff 
Grove  and  Metropolitan  Camp  Ground  Association  of  New  York 
and  Brooklyn.  This  property  is  twenty-six  miles  from  New  York, 
and  contains  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  with  one  mile  of  water 
front.  It  cost  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  the  build- 
ings, roads,  and  water-works  one  hundred  thousand  more.  The 
scenery  is  the  most  magnificent  on  Long  Island  Sound.  A  building 
for  religious  services,  called  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle,  is  one  hun- 
dred feet  wide  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long. 

We  now  come,  in  our  enumeration  of  the  special  labors  of  Mr. 
Boole,  to  his  "work  of  faith,"  known  as  the  "Home  for  Women," 
located  in  a  house  in  Water  Street,  New  York,  which  was  formerly 
kept  for  a  dog-pit  and  other  abominations.  In  establishing  a  home 
for  the  fallen  women  of  Water  Street,  Mr.  Boole  sought  a  location  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  dance-houses,  for  his  theory  was  that 
to  save  these  women  he  must  have  a  place  near  their  haunts  of  vice, 
where  those  who  were  so  disposed  could  be  gradually  lifted  out  of 
the  slums,  and  made  to  work  their  way  into  respectable  life. 

The  Home  has  now  been  in  successful  operation  for  three  years, 
and  its  recoi'ds  ai-e  full  of  most  affecting  reformations  and  conver- 
sions. Some  have  died  in  the  happiness  of  repentance  and  salvation. 
Not  only  have  women  left  the  slums  in  the  vicinity  and  taken  refuge 
here,  but  they  have  come  from  dens  of  infamy  elsewhere  in  the  city. 

With  an  annual  expenditure  of  over  three  thousand  three  hun- 
dred dollars,  yet  the  sole  dependence  of  the  institution  is  the  unso- 
licited offerings  which  are  given  to  it.  No  one  is  asked  to  give  any- 
thing, but  those  connected  with  it  pray  without  ceasing  for  its  care 
by  the  Heavenly  Father.  They  have  accepted  the  promise  of  Jesus, 
"  If  ye  shall  ask  anything  in  my  name,  I  will  do  it,"  and  they  rely 
on  it  for  every  dollar  and  every  mouthful  of  food.  Professor  Tyndall, 
of  England,  has  asked  for  some  proof  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer ;  and 
here  it  is  in  one  among  the  many  instances  from  Mr.  Boole's 
diary : — 

"February  15,  1872.— This  morning  I  rode  down  to  the  Home. 
There  was  not  quite  one  dollar  in  hand,  and  I  knew  the  matron 
must  be  needing  money.  On  entering  and  accosting  one  of  the  ma- 
trons, I  learned  that  breakfast  had  consumed  all  their  store,  and  there 
remained  neither  food  nor  money  to  supply  dinner.     Going  into  the 

52 


REV.     "WILLIAM     H.     BOOLE. 

sewing-room,  where  the  inmates  were  at  work,  and  making  some 
allusion  to  the  fact  of  there  being  nothing  for  dinner,  several  of  the 
girls  spoke  out,  '  It  is  all  right,  sir ;  we  are  happj  1 "  I  said,  '  Can 
you  trust  the  Lord  for  your  dinner?  '  *  0  yes,  sir  I '  they  all  cheer- 
fully replied.  .  .  .  While  we  were  yet  talking,  a  dear  brother, 
a  minister,  came  in,  having  arrived  from  his  home  in  the  country; 
and,  after  a  moment's  salutation,  he  said,  '  I  am  sent  from  a  few  la- 
dies of  my  church  with  some  money  for  your  Home,'  and  handed 
me  twenty-seven  dollars.  Thus  did  the  Lord  show  his  faithfulness, 
in  the  presence  of  the  people.  This  was  a  sweet  lesson  of  faith  to 
us  all." 

Mr.  Boole  is  anxious  to  extend  his  work  by  obtaining  a  country 
home,  to  which  women  can  be  sent  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  the 
reformation  begun  in  the  parent  institution.  In  all  these  labors  he 
is  acting  with  a  practical  aim  which  is  certain  to  secure  success. 

Mr.  Boole  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  has  an  erect  carriage. 
His  features  are  regular,  and  the  whole  countenance  is  striking  in  its 
manly  and  intellectual  lineaments.  The  face  is  long,  having  a  high 
brow,  and  the  eyes  are  large  and  expressive.  His  hair  is  straight, 
and,  being  worn  long,  and  falling  behind  his  ears,  presents  the  brow 
and  face  in  their  full  prominence. 

In  early  life  Mr.  Boole  formed  the  habit  of  self-reliance,  and, 
though  he  has  passed  through  academical  and  other  studies,  he  is  a 
self-taught  man.  He  has  studied  some  of  the  languages,  mostly  the 
Hebrew.  His  mode  of  preparation  for  the  pulpit  is  careful  and  la- 
borious. Not  satisfied  with  a  thorough  study  of  his  subject,  he 
writes  out  his  sermons  in  extenso,  and,  dispensing  with  all  manuscript 
except  very  brief  notes,  his  delivery  has  all  the  ease  and  freedom  of 
extemporaneous  speaking.  While  there  is  an  impulsiveness  and 
spiritedness  in  his  utterances,  they  have  the  thoughtfulness  and  finish 
of  written  sentences.  His  natural  powers  of  oratory  fit  him  for  an 
elegant  and  effective  speaker,  but  they  have  all  been  trained  and 
developed  at  the  same  time  that  he  has  cultivated  his  other  talents. 

Mr.  Boole  is  a  fine  type  of  intellectual  manhood,  and  of  the  earn- 
est, fearless  sect  to  which  he  belongs.  Ambitious  to  excel  and  dis- 
tinguish himself  in  the  field  of  mental  culture,  he  is  not  less  an  en- 
thusiast for  his  faith^  bringing  all  his  ability  and  influence  to  its 
service.  Talented,  devout,  and  seeking  to  make  his  life  an  example 
of  virtue,  Christian  fidelity,  and  labor,  he  is  certainly  pursuing  a 
road  leading  to  living  honors  and  celestial  peace. 

53 


REV.  ROBERT  R.  BOOTH,  D.  D., 

I»A.©TOrC,     OT^     THE     XJIVIVERSITY      PLAICE      PRES- 
BYTERIjIlIV     CnXJXtClX,      TVETV     YOIIKL 


lEV.  DR  ROBERT  R.  BOOTH  was  born  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  May  30th,  1830.  He  took  a  course  of  two 
3'ears  at  the  New  York  University,  then  going  to  Williams 
College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1849.  His  preparation 
for  the  ministiy  was  at  Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  from 
which  institution  he  graduated  in  1852.  He  now  spent  a  year 
in  agreeable  and  profitable  travel  in  Europe  and  the  East.  Upon  his 
return  to  his  native  land  die  accepted  a  call  as  assistant  of  the  vener- 
able Rev.  Dr.  Beman,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Troy,  and  was  ordained  in  October  of  the  same  yeai\  After  a  service 
of  three  years  and  a  half  he  became  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  where  he  remained  for  four  years.  On 
the  4th  of  March,  1861,  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Mercer 
street  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York. 

This  congregation  was  in  former  days  one  of  the  most  influential 
and  wealthy  bodies  of  Presbyterian  believers  in  the  city,  having  been 
organized  about  the  year  1836.  A  church  edifice  was  erected  on 
gi-ound  leased  of  the  Sailoi-s'  Snug  Harbor,  at  a  cost  of  some  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  From  various  reasons,  the  chief  of  which  was  the 
up-town  mxigration  of  the  people,  the  congregation  after  many  years 
declined  in  numbers,  and  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Booth's  coming  not  more 
than  forty  pews  were  rented.  At  that  period  there  were  only  about 
two  hundred  members;  whereas  in  1866  there  were  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty,  and  about  two  hundred  families.  A  large  number 
of  Sunday  school  children  were  taught  under  the  auspices  of  the 
church,  including  the  regular  school  and  school  connected  with  the 
Half  Orphan  Asylum,  and  two  mission  schools  on  the  east  side  of 
the  city. 

In  1870  the  church  edi^ce  was  sold  to  the  Church  of  the  Strangers, 
Rev.  Dr.  Charles  F.  Deems,  for  fifty  thousand  dollars.     A  union  of 

54 


REV.     ROBERT     R.     BOOTH,     D.  D. 

the  Mercer  street  congregation  with  the  University  Place  Presbyterian 
church  having  been  eifected,  Dr.  Booth  was  called  as  pastor  of  the 
new  organization,  and  entered  upon  his  duties  in  September,  1870. 
The  University  Place  Church  was  originally  a  colony  from  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  then  in  Wall  street,  and  the  Brick  Church, 
then  in  Beekman  street  Ground  was  purchased  in  Cedar  street,  and 
a  church  erected  in  1807.  The  fine  stone  edifice  on  University 
Place,  now  occupied  by  the  union  congregation,  was  built  by  the 
subscriptions  of  a  few  persons  during  the  pastorship  of  the  eminent 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Potts,  who  remained  pastor  until  his  death,  about 
1864.  The  continued  removal  of  families  up-town  rendered  it  a 
wise  policy  for  these  two  old  congregations  to  unite,  and  thereby 
maintain  an  efficient  strength. 

Dr.  Booth  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  New  York 
University,  in  1864.  He  has  published  various  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses, which  have  attracted  a  wide  attention. 

Dr.  Booth  is  of  the  average  height,  well-proportioned,  and  active. 
His  head  is  round,  with  regular,  expressive  features.  His  complexion 
is  pale,  and  the  predominant  characteristics  of  his  face  are  intel- 
lectuality and  amiability.  He  has  easy,  friendly  manners,  and  such 
happy  powers  of  conversation  that  altogether  he  is  a  most  fascinating 
companion.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  what  is  called  man  about  him. 
An  intelligent  gentleman,  a  pure-minded  and  upright  man,  a  diligent 
student  in  the  paths  of  the  sacred  writers  and  of  classical  and  polite 
literature,  he  has  all  the  convictions,  culture,  and  taste  which  elevate 
the  individual  to  its  nearest  approximation  to  true  manhood ;  but 
above  and  beyond  all  these  he  has  a  nature  which  in  itself  forms  the 
foundation  of  a  noble  character,  and  to  which  the  others  are  but  the 
superstructure.  In  not  only  the  thought  but  the  practice  of  the 
nobler  maxims  of  life ;  in  a  bold  and  manly  conscientiousness  and 
responsibility  as  to  all  personal  conduct  ;  in  a  stern  and  inflexible 
devotion  to  duty  and  to  principle,  and  yet  a  charitable  and  gentle 
mode  of  dealing  with  all  the  short-comings  of  other  people — such  has 
been  the  course  which,  as  youth  and  man,  this  gentleman  has  made 
the  rule  of  his  existence. 

Dr.  Booth's  sermons  are  finished  specimens  of  English  compo- 
sition. The  diction  is  flowing  and  eloquent,  and  at  the  same  time  it 
is  sufficiently  concise  and  logical.  Most  of  the  delivery  is  in  a  calm, 
deliberate  style,  with  occasional  passages  of  animation.  Of  one  matter 
the  hearer  is  instantly  assured :   these  sermons  are  thoughtful  and 

5d 


REV.     ROBERT     R.      BOOTH,     D.  D. 

scholarly  productions.  Thoughtful  as  to  both  the  matter  they  con- 
tain and  the  object  in  view  in  presenting  it  to  the  public ;  and  scholar- 
ly as  to  both  the  language  and  the  labored  research  which  will  best 
arrest  attention  and  produce  conviction.  They  are  not  dashed  off 
with  an  effort  for  rhetorical  eifect,  nor  are  they  delivered  with  a  hope 
of  producing  oratorical  sensations ;  but  they  are  sober  and  studied 
religious  disquisitions,  written  in  the  most  practical  and  earnest  style 
of  Christian  scholarship,  and  pronounced  for  the  salvation  of  souls. 

Dr.  Booth  for  one  of  his  years  has  made  a  goodly  advance  on  the 
road  of  fame.  In  his  own  and  other  denominations,  among  learned 
men  as  well  as  the  public  at  large,  he  has  a  high  reputation  as  a  man 
of  extensive  learning,  eminent  piety,  and  great  usefulness.  How  great 
the  work  before  him  may  be  cannot,  of  course,  now  be  decided;  but 
one  thing  is  certain,  that  it  can  in  no  measure  outstrip  his  willing 
energies,  or  his  ambition  to  excel  in  devotion  to  duty. 

5() 


REY.  WILLIAM  lYES  BUDIXGTOX,  D.  D., 

I»-A.ST011    OF    THE    CLITVTOIV    ^VEIVUE    CO^VGKE- 
G^TION^X^   CHURCH,    BROOItLYN^. 


^ 


EV.  DR  lYES  BUDINGTON  was  born  at  New  Haven, 
,  April  21st,  1815.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1834,  and,  after  the  study  of  theology  for  three  years  in 
New  Haven,  concluded  his  course  at  Andover  in  1839. 
He  was  ordained  April  22d,  1840,  at  Charlestown,  Mass., 
at  the  same  time  being  installed  as  pastor  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational Church  of  that  place.  Here  be  remained  until  Septem- 
ber, 1854,  when  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  and  for  a  limited  period 
officiated  at  the  Western  Presbyterian  Church.  He  was  next  called 
to  the  Clinton  Avenue  Congregational  Church,  Brooklyn,  and  entered 
upon  his  duties  April  22d,  1855.  This  organization  has  existed 
for  some  twenty-six  years,  and  until  1855  met  on  the  corner  of  Clinton 
and  (jates  avenues.  A  new  edifice  was  completed  on  the  corner 
of  Clinton  and  Lafayette  avenues  in  1855,  and  a  chapel,  fronting 
on  Lafayette  avenue,  was  finished  in  1859 ;  tBe  whole*  property 
costing  $90,000.  During  1864  the  sum  of  ^25,000  was  subscribed 
to  pay  the  entire  debt  of  the  church.  Beside  this,  the  pews  were 
donated  back  to  the  church  by  their  owners,  making  a  gift  of  an 
additional  $25,000.  There  are  four  hundred  members  and  about 
two  hundred  families  attending  the  church.  Dr.  Budington's  pub- 
lished writings  consist  of  a  history  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Charlestown,  and  various  occasional  seraions  and  ad- 
dresses. He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Amherst  Colleo-e  in 
1856. 

A  Congregational  Council,  assembled  in  Brooklyn,  March  24th, 
1874,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Clinton  avenue  and  Pilgrim  Congre- 
gational churches,  to  take  into  consideration  a  question  of  discipline 
regarding  Plymouth  church  (Rev.  Mr.  Beecher),  on  which  there  was 
a  difference  of  views  on  the  part  of  the  two  pastors  and  congrega- 

57 


REV.    WILLIAM    IVES    BUDINGTON,    D.  D. 

tions  on  the  one  side,  and  the  one  pastor  and  congregation  on  the 
other.  The  decision  was  regarded  as  favorable  to  those  asking  the 
Council,  though  there  was  no  censure  of  Mr.  Beecher. 

Dr.  Budington  is  rather  above  the  medium  height,  equally  pro- 
portioned, and  erect.  He  has  a  well-formed  head,  of  marked  in- 
tellectual development.  His  complexion  and  hair  are  fair,  and  his 
expression  is  that  of  a  repose  amounting  almost  to  severity.  His 
frigidity  and  harshness  of  countenance  are  more  observable  in  his 
public  exercises  than  in  social  intercourse.  To  see  him  in  the  pulpit, 
clad  in  the  single-breasted  clerical  coat,  pale,  stern,  rigid,  and  deeply 
reflective,  he  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  modern  model  of  the 
Puritan  ecclesiastical  autocrats  of  the  early  times.  Every  word  is 
measured,  every  thought  is  logical,  and  every  sentiment  is  conviction. 
The  man  swimming  for  his  life  might  as  well  expect  an  outstretched 
hand  to  come  from  some  silent,  frowning,  perpendicular  wall  of  rocks, 
as  for  the  wicked  to  find  the  light  of  mercy  in  that  face  so  severe, 
emotionless,  and  changeless.  His  face  at  these  times  draws  no  heart 
toward  him,  however,  much  his  words  may  do  so.  In  private  life  he 
is  a  totally  different  being.  His  countenance  beams  with  instant  ani- 
mation ;  he  is  cordial,  unrestrained,  and  tal'kative.  The  gloomy,  icy 
Puritan  seems,  after  all,  to  have  been  the  mere  outer  shell  of  most 
cheerful,  genial  qualities  within.  There  is  no  abatement  of  his  fixed- 
ness of  opinion  and  earnestness  of  reasoning,  while  there  is  a  bursting 
forth  of  the  warmer  and  gentler  impulses  of  the  heart. 

Dr.  Budington  is  in  all  respects  an  able  man.  He  is  a  labo- 
rious, painstaking  student,  and  a  close,  logical  thinker.  His  sermons 
show  great  originality,  as  well  as  gracefulness  of  diction.  He  elabor- 
ates, refines,  and  analyzes  until  he  presents  the  truth  with  a  power 
well  calculated  to  be  irresistible  to  the  intelligence.  Arguments  of 
the  nature  that  he  indulges  in,  coming  from  others,  would  in  many 
cases  be  considered  dry  and  uninteresting;  but  with  him  they  are  far 
from  being  so.  In  the  first  place,  his  delivery  is  excellent,  both  as 
regards  voice  and  manner  ;  and  in  the  second,  his  arguments  are  so 
clear,  so  pleasantly  illustrated  by  similes,  and  withal  so  masterly  in 
logic,  that  they  hold  the  hearer  quite  as  spell-bound  as  the  more 
brilliant  and  moving  appeals  of  eloquence.  His  eyes  have  a  pene- 
trating gaze .;  his  mouth  assumes  an  expression  of  decision,  and  stern- 
ness settles  an  unmovable  cloud  upon  his  features.  You  see  that  he  is 
in  earnest  in  his  work,  that  all  the  gifts  of  his  intellect  are  brought 
into  use,  and  an  occasional  tremulousness  of  voic(j  gives  additional 

58 


REV.    WILLIAM    IVES    BUDINGTON,    D.  D. 

testimony  as  to  the  strength  of  his  personal  feelings.  As  we  have 
said,  there  is  now  nothing  in  his  face  that  appeals  to  yon.  He  looks 
you  through  and  through,  with  a  glance  as  keen  as  a  needle,  and  the 
heart  feels  a  chill  fi'om  the  icy  countenance.  But  all  this  time  he  is 
bombarding  the  mind  with  agreeably  stated  logic,  and  gradually,  and 
then  more  powerfully,  he  brings  the  awakened  convictions  and.  con- 
science to  influence,  and  inspire  the  heart.  His  triumph  is  complete. 
He  has  first  repelled  and  then  enchained — first  frozen  the  heart,  and 
then  melted  both  mind  and  emotions. 

Dr.  Buding-ton's  brethren  of  the  ministry  speak  of  him  as  a  truly 
good  man.  They  instance  his  labors  in  his  present  congregation, 
where  at  times  there  has  been  much  dissension,  growing  out  of  per- 
sonal bickerings,  unwise  plans,  blunders,  and  a  load  of  debt.  In  tlie 
midst  of  all  this,  no  circumstance  has  ever  changed  the  serene  temper, 
the  moral  fortitude,  and  the  Christian  gentleness  of  the  pastor.  And 
now  when  the  dark  day  is  over,  and  the  period  of  trial  gone  by,  the 
exaltation  of  character  then  displayed  has  endeared  him  even  to 
those  whose  purposes  he  opposed.  Mainly  through  his  instrumen- 
tality, his  people  are  to-day  united  and  powerful,  devoted  to  their 
spiritual  teacher,  and  he  to  them,  with  their  heavy  indebtedness  dis- 
charged, and  their  future  undimmed  by  a  single  cloud. 

Ripe  in  scholarship,  practicing  all  the  graces  of  the  gentleman, 
and  the  acknowledged  and  admired  Christian,  Dr.  Budington  is  alike 
conspicuous  in  public  life  and  valued  in  the  private  circle.  His 
praises  are  spoken  in  the  language  of  popular  applause,  and  in  the 
utterances  of  breasts  guided  by  his  rare  example. 

59 


EEY.  SAMUEL  D.  BURCHARD,  D.  D., 

PASTOR    OF    THE    THIIXTEEIVTH   STREET    I»I1ES- 
BYTERTA^IV    CHURCH,    IVETV    YORTK. 


EV.  DR  SAMUEL  D.  BUECHARD  was  born  in  the 
K>  town  of  Steuben,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  September 
6tli,  1812,  on  the  farm  where  Baron  Steuben  lived  and 
died,  it  being  a  portion  of  the  township  awarded  that 
distinguished  revolutionary  officer  for  his  public  services.  The 
«^  farm  of  six  hundred  acres  became  the  property  of  the  father  of 
Dr.  Bnrchard.  and  here  his  youth  was  passed  amid  the  patriotic  in- 
fluences of  the  home  and  grave  of  the  departed  hero  and  soldier. 
The  county  was  settled  to  a  large  extent  by  the  Welch,  which 
language  Dr.  Burchard  once  spoke  with  freedom.  When  about  seven- 
teen years  of  age  he  went  to  Hamilton.  Madison  county,  with  the  in- 
tention of  entering  a  Baptist  theological  institution,  and  preparing 
for  that  ministry.  A  conversation  with  his  brother,  on  the  subject 
of  "  close  communion,"  induced  him,  at  the  last  moment,  to  decide 
against  any  connection  with  the  Baptists.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year  he  was  at  home,  suffering  greatly  from  asthma,  when  the  follow- 
ing incident  occurred.  Passing  along  the  road  one  day,  he  encount- 
ered a  wagoner,  who  noticed  his  distress,  and  said  to  him : 

"Why,  lad,  yoii've  got  the  heaves  badly." 

"Something  like  it,"  replied  the  youth. 

"Well,  get  up  here,''  remarked  the  other. 

The  youth  mounted  the  wagon,  when  the  wagoner  further  re- 
marked : 

"  When  a  horse  has  the  heaves  we  send  him  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.     Now,  if  a  horse  can  be  cured,  why  can't  you  f  *' 

The  result  was  that  these  somewhat  original  but  practical  sug- 
gestions were  acted  upon,  and  in  two  weeks'  time  the  youth  was  on 
his  way  to  Kentucky.  Going  to  Lexington,  he  made  preparations  to 
start  a  school,  but,  showing  himself  an  effective  speaker  in  addressing 
temperance  meetings,  he  was  urged  to  prepare  for  the  ministry  with- 

60 


KEV,      SAMUEL     D.      BURCHARD,     D.  D. 

out  delay.  He  soon  after  entered  Centre  College  at  Danville.  During 
his  collegiate  course  he  was  very  active  in  the  temperance  movement, 
constantly  addressing  crowded  meetings,  and  acquired  great  fame  as 
a  ready  debater  and  eloquent  extemporaneous  speaker.  Providen- 
tially, too,  his  asthma  was  permanently  cured.  On  one  occasion  more 
than  three  thousand  people  had  assembled  to  hear  him  speak  on 
temperance,  when  he  found  himself  suffering  with  a  sudden  and 
severe  attack  of  the  complaint.  He  thought  himself  able,  however, 
to  make  an  apology,  and  rose  to  do  so.  The  vast  assemblage  had  an 
electrical  effect  npon  him.  After  a  few  words  he  began  to  feel  relief, 
and  proceeding,  made  one  of  the  best  speeches  of  his  life,  which  was 
of  three  hours'  duration.  In  1836  he  was  sent  to  the  east  on  a  mis- 
sion to  raise  funds  for  Centre  College,  and  was  successfully  engaged 
in  this  work  about  a  year,  preaching  and  making  addresses  in  all  the 
principal  cities.  He  held  forth  frequently  at  the  old  Broadway 
Tabernacle,  where  crowds  flocked  to  hear  hi  n.  Keturning  to  Ken- 
tucky, he  was  graduated  with  his  class  in  1837.  He  received  calls  to 
churches  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  Newark,  but  preferred  to  con- 
tinue his  theological  studies  at  Danville,  under  Drs.  Young  and 
Greene.  This  class  was  the  foundation  of  the  present  Presbyterian 
Presbytery  in  the  spring  of  1838.  Desiring  to  pursue  his  studies  in 
New  York,  he  consented  to  tike  the  temporary  charge  of  the  Houston 
street  Presbyterian  Church,  commencing  his  duties  in  the  autumn  of 
the  same  year.  In  the  following  spring  he  accepted  a  formal  call, 
and  was  ordained  and  installed.  He  preached  eight  years  in  Houston 
street,  during  which  time  eight  hundred  and  forty-four  persons  were 
added  to  the  church,  and  two  hundred  and  ninety-three  children 
baptized.  Many  of  the  congregation  desired  to  plant  a  church  up 
town,  and  a  colony,  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  members, 
with  the  pastor,  was  constituted  into  a  new  church  May  27th,  1846. 
After  worshiping  in  the  chapel  of  the  New  York  University  for 
nearly  a  year,  in  May,  1847,  the  basement  of  a  new  edifice  in  Thir- 
teenth street  was  erected,  and  in  September  the  main  building  was 
occupied.  The  property  cost  $30,000,  and  there  was  an  encumbrance 
of  about  $24,000.  On  the  8th  of  January,  1855,  the  edifice  was  en- 
tirely consumed  by  fire.  Another  building  was  erected  on  the  same 
site,  and  dedicated  in  the  following  October,  The  debt  had  been  re- 
duced before  the  fire  to  $7000;  but  it  was  again  increased  to  nearly 
$22,000,  which  was  gradually  reduced,  and  in  May,  1864,  entirely 
removed.    Up  to  the  year  1815  there  had  been  added  to  the  church 

61 


REV.     SAMUEL     D  .      B  U  R  C  H  A  R  D  ,     D.  D, 

one  thousand  fom-  hundred  and  fifty-six  persons,  five  hundred  being 
on  profession  of  their  faith ;  eight  hundred  and  sixty-six  had  been 
dismissed  or  died,  and  the  number  at  that  time  was  seven  hundred  and 
seventy.  Three  liundred  and  eighty-nine  children  had  been  bap- 
tized. The  Sabbath  attendance  was  about  one  thousand  persons.  The 
total  number  added  to  the  church  under  Dr.  Burchard's  ministry  of 
twent3'-five  years  was  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety.  His 
pastoral  calls  had  averaged  about  one  thousand  a  yeai",  making  an 
aggregate  of  twenty-five  thousand  calls,  and  he  had  attended  not  far 
from  two  thousand  five  hundred  funerals. 

During  1853,  Dr.  Burchard  was  prostrated  by  the  formation  of  an 
internal  abscess,  from  which  his  life  was  despaired  of  The  most 
eminent  surgeons  declared  that  only  the  most  painful  and  difficult 
operation  could  possibly  save  his  life,  and  even  then  there  were  a 
thousand  to  one  chances  that  he  would  die  under  the  knife.  The 
operation  was  entered  upon  by  Drs.  Sayre  and  Hossack,  and  a  cavity 
made,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  B.  to  us,  "as  big  as  a  child's  head."  After 
extraordinary  endurance,  at  length  his  pulse  seemingly  ceased  to 
beat,  and  the  surgeons  pronounced  the  patient  dead.  His  wife,  how- 
ever, who  remained  in  the  room  during  nearly  the  whole  operation, 
insisted  that  he  was  not  dead,  and  vigorous  means  were  taken  for  his 
resuscitation.  For  a  long  time  no  signs  of  life  appeared,  and  the 
surgeons  again  and  again  reiterated  their  opinion  that  it  was  totally 
extinct.  The  efforts  continued,  and  Mrs.  Burchard  claimed  that  she 
detected  a  slight  glow  in  the  cheeks,  but  the  surgeons  were  still  in- 
credulous. At  last  the  patient  gave  a  gasp,  the  pulse  returned,  and, 
to  the  joy  of  the  devoted  wife  and  the  profound  astonishment  of  the 
surgeons,  it  became  evident  that  he  still  lived.  From  day  to  day, 
when  he  could  endure  it,  other  operations  took  place,  the  cutting  ex- 
tending at  least  three  inches  into  the  body.  The  bowels  were  ex- 
posed, and  the  bladder  was  actually  displaced  and  replaced.  In  his 
recovery,  nothing  was  more  wonderful  than  the  manner  in  which 
the  parts  were  healed,  and  the  manner  in  which  nature  supplied 
the  absence  of  bones  and  muscles  that  had  been  removed.  Dr. 
Burchard  was  restored  to  his  pastoral  duties  in  about  six  months. 
The  case  attracted  great  attention  from  the  medical  profession  both 
in  the  United  States  and  abroad.  Visiting  Europe  in  1855,  he  was 
invited  to  the  leading  medical  colleges,  where  his  person  was  ex- 
amined, and  he  was  listened  to  with  little  less  than  wonder.     He 

G2 


REV.     SAMUEL     D.     BURCHARD,     D.  D. 

gave  a  public  lecture  on  his  case  at  one  of  the  institutions,  and  sc 
thrillingly  interesting  was  it  that  one  of  the  faculty  fainted. 

Dr.  Burchard  published,  in  1840,  a  volume,  entitled  "  The  Laurel 
Wreath  ;"  and  in  1853  a  handsome  volume,  with  steel  engravings, 
entitled  "  The  Daughters  of  Zion,"  which  was  republished  in  Eng- 
land. He  has  also  issued  various  sermons  and  addresses,  and  written 
largely  for  the  magazines.  His  degree  of  D.  D.  was  conferred  by 
Madison  University,  in  1852.  He  is  the  chancellor  of  Ingham  Uni 
versity,  at  Leroy,  New  York,  an  institution  for  females,  and  is  con- 
nected with  many  charitable  and  religious  institutions  and  societies 
of  New  York  city. 

Dr.  Burchard  is  of  tall  person,  erect,  and  well -formed.  He  has 
a  round  head,  not  large,  but  well  developed,  with  regular  and  intelli- 
gent features.  He  is  of  fair  hair  and  complexion,  and  exceedingly 
bald.  His  countenance  shows  a  great  deal  of  honest,  independent 
character,  and  an  unfailing  store  of  amiability  and  cheerfulness.  He 
is  genial  and  communicative,  and  readily  obtains  the  esteem  and  love 
of  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact.  His  learning  is  varied, 
embracing  many  subjects  quite  foreign  to  his  profession,  and  he  is 
most  happy  in  his  mode  of  making  it  a  source  of  pleasure  and  benefit 
to  others.  It  is  apparent  that  he  is  a  man  of  much  shrewd  penetra- 
tion as  to  character,  and  that  his  own  is  bold  and  manly,  while 
thoroughly  and  enthusiastically  religious.  He  has  a  nervous  im- 
pulsiveness of  manner,  but  his  judgment  is  collected  and  his  reso- 
lution heroic.  As  instances  of  the  latter,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
during  the  cholera  pestilence  of  1832  he  remained  at  Danville,  nurs- 
ing the  sick  and  shrouding  the  dead,  when  almost  all  who  could 
do  so  fled;  and  under  the  severe  medical  operations  which  he  has 
submitted  to  he  was  never  bound  or  stupified  in  any  degree. 

He  is  a  fascinating,  extemporaneous  speaker.  There  is  a  gush 
of  language  from  his  lips  as  unrestrained  as  water  from  a  fountain, 
and  it  sparkles  with  all  the  glow  of  impassioned  eloquence.  His 
sermons  are  written  with  the  same  smoothness  and  beauty,  while 
they  do  not  lack  in  argumentative  power.  He  always  speaks  with 
feeling  and  great  devoutness,  using  a  few  impressive  gestures.  His 
ministry  in  New  York  now  stretches  over  a  period  of  thirty-four 
years.  It  is  a  ministry  brilliant  with  triumphs.  It  is  years  of  talents 
well  applied,  and  God's  work  well  done. 

63 


HEY.  STEPHEN  H.  CAMP, 


PA.STOI1    OF     XJIVITY    XJ]VITA.imLTV    CHA.PEL, 
BllOOIt  XL,  Y]V. 


EV.  STEPHEN  H.  CAMP  was  born  at  Windsor,  Con- 
necticut, Maj  29th,  1837.  In  boyhood  he  resolved  to 
dedicate  his  life  to  the  Christian  ministry.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  his  father  removed  the  family  to  the  western 
part  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  sought  to  make  arrange- 
(2^  ments  for  the  purchase  of  a  fai'm  ;  but  in  this  he  failed,  and  the 
son  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  hope  of  a  liberal  education.  Greatly 
disappointed,  but  meekly  bowing  to  his  fate,  he  at  once  turned  his 
attention  to  learning  a  mechanical  trade.  In  September,  1852,  he  en- 
tered a  machine  shop  at  Rochester  for  this  purpose ;  and.  in  Septem- 
ber, 1868,  he  went  to  Milwaukee,  and  was  there  engaged  as  a  ma- 
chinist. Here,  while  patiently  laboring  at  his  occupation,  he  met 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Staples,  who  became  interested  in  him,  and  so  far  pro- 
moted his  hopes  and  plans,  that  he  was  enabled  to  enter  the  Divinity 
School  at  Meadville,  Penn.  Upon  the  termination  of  his  studies,  he 
became  the  chaplain  of  a  colored  regiment  then  at  Port  Hudson, 
Louisiana,  and  on  his  return  from  the  service,  he  took  charge  of  the 
Unitarian  Church  at  Toledo,  Ohio.  It  was  in  a  very  unfavorable 
condition,  but  at  the  end  of  a  year  presented  a  more  hopeful  aspect. 
In  March,  1869,  he  visited  Brooklyn,  where  he  preached  for  two 
weeks,  as  a  supply,  to  the  people  of  Unity  Chapel.  He  was  so  much 
admired  that  a  cordial  and  unanimous  call  was  extended  to  him, 
which  he  accepted. 

The  founding  of  Unity  Chapel,  or  the  Third  Unitarian  Congre- 
gational Society  of  Brooklyn,  was  chiefly  due  to  the  efforts  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Alfred  P.  Putnam,  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Saviour, 
generously  aided  by  his  own  congregation.  The  first  services  were 
held  on  Sunday,  October  6th,  1867,  in  a  public  room  on  the  corner 
of  Classon  and  Fulton  avenues,  about  fifty  pers(^ns  being  present  at 
each  service.     On   the  evening  of  December  3d.  1867,  more  than 

64 


REV.     STEPHEN     H.      CAMP. 

thirty  persons  assembled  and  organized  as  a  religious  society.  The 
expense  of  the  enterprise  during  the  three  months  preceding  January 
1st,  1868,  were  entirely  defrayed  by  Dr.  Putnam's  church.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1868,  in  consequence  of  Dr.  Putnam's  continued  appeals,  a  sub- 
scription was  raised  for  the  erection  of  a  chapel.  Ten  thousand  dol- 
lars were  thus  obtained,  to  which  the  American  Unitarian  Associa- 
tion added  a  further  five  thousand.  In  April,  1868,  seven  lots  of 
ground  were  purchased  on  Classon  avenue  and  Lefferts  street,  for  the 
present  cliapel  and  a  future  church.  The  corner-stone  of  the  chapel 
was  laid  September  4th,  1868,  and  the  dedication  of  the  completed 
edifice  occured  December  9th,  1868.  A  powerful  and  eloquent  ser- 
mon was  preached  by  Dr.  Putnam,  and  numerous  other  prominent 
ministers  took  part  in  the  impressive  servnces.  The  cost  of  the  lots, 
building  and  fixtures,  was  about  twenty-six  thousand  dollars.  From 
the  date  of  its  organization,  the  society  gave  evidence  of  constantly 
increasing  strength  and  influence,  and  under  the  ministration  of  Mr. 
Camp,  it  has  been  thoroughly  united  and  active  in  the  religious  work. 
Mr.  Camp  is  an  interesting  and  impressive  preacher.  By  voice 
and  manner,  he  shows  that  his  personal  feelings  are  fully  involved  in 
all  that  he  says,  and  that  preaching  with  him  is  not  intended  for  the 
display  of  talents,  so  much  as  to  awaken  his  fellow-creatures  to  a 
consideration  of  religious  and  moral  concerns.  He  arrests  attention 
and  conscience,  because  his  sermons  are  thoughtful,  argumentative 
productions ;  and  he  converts  because  they  are  likewise  aglow  with 
the  inspiration  of  a  fixed  and  ardent  faith.  Poetry,  sentiment,  and 
beauty  all  affect  and  govern  him  in  his  mental  action,  and  his  views 
of  life ;  but  the  deep  and  moving  source  of  all  his  convictions  and  his 
preaching  is  religion.  Consequently,  his  daily  life  is  marked  by  the 
purity  and  consistency  which  spring  from  such  a  condition  of  mind 
and  heart,  while  his  public  career  stands  not  less  an  example  of  fidel- 
ity to  principle  and  duty. 

65 


REV.  J.  HAL8TED  CARROLL,  D.  D., 

JPJlSTOK    of    the    EA.ST    REFOIinVIIiZD    CliUKCH, 
BKOOIiEYPif. 


EV.  DR.  J.  HALSTED  CARROLL  was  born  in  the  city 
of  Brooklyn,  May  21st,  1833.  His  father,  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Daniel  L.  Carroll,  was  one  of  the  early  pastors  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  on  Brookljni  Heights,  and 
throughout  a  memorable  ministry  displayed  the  highest  char- 
tiLJ  acteristics  of  learning,  piety,  and  efficiency.  "  God  is  all  my 
hope,"  were  his  dying  words.  The  son  made  a  profession  of  religion 
at  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  and  entered  college  before  he  was  four- 
teen. He  then  graduated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  July, 
1851,  and  at  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  in  May,  1855.  At 
the  close  of  his  second  year  of  theological  study,  he  was  licensed  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  on  the  30th 
of  May,  1855  (the  year  he  left  the  seminary),  he  was  ordained  and 
installed  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  as  pastor  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Janiesburg,  New  Jersey.  In  the  following  year 
his  ministry  was  marked  by  a  powerful  revival,  which  affected  not 
only  his  own  congregation,  but  also  the  neighboring  congregation  of 
Manalapan,  where  he  labored  a  part  of  the  time.  Impaired  health 
obliged  this  faithfal  pastor  to  resign  in  1858,  when  the  following  re- 
solution was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  church  : 

^'- Besolved,  That  we  do  hereby  publicly  testify  our  gi-atitude  to 
God,  that  during  Mr.  Carroll's  ministry  here,  his  labors  have  been 
signally  blest  by  the  out-pouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  from  a 
small  beginning  we  have  been  raised  up  to  be  a  growing  and  pros- 
perous church." 

He  had  been  attacked  with  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs,  and  now 
proceeded  to  Aiken,  South  Carolina,  a  noted  resort  for  invalids.  As 
his  health  improved,  he  occasionally  preached,  and  with  so  much 
acceptance  that  he  was  invited  to  remain  in  the  place  as  a  permanent 

pastor.     With  this  view,  a  Presbyterian  church  was  organized  there 

66 


EEV.     J.      HALSTED     CAREOLL,     D.  D. 

on  the  28th  and  29th  of  August,  1858,  and  not  long  after  a  con- 
venient house  of  worship  was  erected.  Here  Dr.  Carroll  labored  with 
great  usefulness  and  success  for  nearly  two  years.  He  then  resigned 
for  the  purpose  of  going  to  Europe,  hoping  to  gain  more  perfect 
health.  Under  date  of  May  4th,  1860,  a  preamble  and  resolutions  were 
adopted  by  the  church,  from  which  we  make  the  following  extract : 

"  Besolved,  That  this  church  and  congregation  entertain  a  very 
grateful  sense  of  the  valuable  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Carro'l  in  the 
founding  and  organizing  of  the  church ;  of  his  zealous  devotion  to  the 
promotion  of  the  enterprise,  and  his  successful  eflwts  in  raising  the 
means  for  the  construction  of  the  bouse  of  worship,  and  that  we  shall 
ever  affectionately  cherish  the  recollection  of  his  sympathizing  at- 
tentions to  the  members  of  his  flock  in  their  mingled  experience  of 
joys  and  sorrows  during  the  period  of  his  pastorship." 

Dr.  Carroll  left  the  United  States  in  the  early  part  of  1860,  and 
was  absent  about  a  year.  He  traveled  extensively  in  Europe,  made 
the  acquaintance  of  many  celebrated  men,  listened  to  the  preaching 
of  the  principal  pulpit  orators  of  Europe,  and  finally  returned  home 
with  improved  health.  For  several  months  he  preached  only  occa- 
sionally, until  he  was  called  to  the  South  Congregational  Church  of 
New  Haven,  Conn.  He  accepted  the  call  January  17tb,  1862.  but  by 
leason  of  severe  indisposition,  he  did  not  commence  his  duties  until 
the  first  Sabbath  in  June,  1862.  At  first  be  recalled  his  acceptance, 
but  the  congregation  was  so  desirous  to  secure  bim  that  the  time  for 
his  coming  was  voluntarily  extended  six  months.  His  sermons 
preached  as  a  candidate  here  made  a  deep  impression,  and  his  first 
sermon  as  the  pastor,  was  one  of  the  ablest  ever  preached  in  New 
Haven.  The  congregation  steadily  increased,  and  became,  on  Sab- 
bath afternoons  at  least,  larger  than  those  of  any  other  church  of 
the  same  denomination  in  the  city. 

The  late  Gerard  Hal  leek,  well  known  as  the  editor  of  the  New 
York  Journal  of  Commerce^  was  a  member  of  this  congregation,  and 
in  the  course  of  a  "  History  of  the  South  Church,"  speaks  tiius  of  the 
ministry  there  of  Dr,  Carrcjll : 

"His  sermons  are  full  of  thought,  legitimately  derived  from  his 
texts,  though  often  not  lying  on  the  surface,  yet  when  suggested,  so 
obviously  comprehended  within  the  scope  of  the  passage,  that  the 
hearer  wonders  he  never  caught  the  idea  before.  There  is  withal  a 
terseness  and  point  in  Ins  discourses,  and  a  beauty  of  language  and 
imagery,  which  renders  it  impossible  to  forget  them.     His  descrip' 

67 


REV.     J.     HALTSEU     CARROLL,     D.  D. 

tioas  of  scenes  and  incidents  are  exceedingly  graphic.  His  scripture 
characters,  as  presented  in  the  chapel  on  Sunday  evenings  for  many 
months  in  succession,  until  superseded  lately  by  the  Fulton  Street 
Prayer  Meetings,  we  have  never  heard  surpassed,  so  life-like  and  so 
full  of  instruction.  The  attendance  upon  them  was  very  large.  To 
those  who  never  heard  Mr.  Carroll  preach,  we  may  remark  that  one 
half  of  the  power  of  his  discourses  consists  in  the  delivery.  Some- 
times they  are  written  out  in  full,  but  more  generally  not,  and  in 
either  case  he  is  entirely  independent  of  his  manuscript,  seldom  ever 
looking  at  it,  but  holding  constant  communication  with  his  hearers, 
not  only  by  his  voice,  but  by  his  expressive  features  and  appropriate 
action.  His  enunciation  is  remarkably  distinct,  his  voice  is  soft  and 
clear,  and  his  command  of  the  audience  such  that  amidst  the  pro- 
found stillness  of  the  house,  he  is  heard  in  every  portion  of  it,  even 
when  speaking  not  much  above  the  tone  of.  common  conversation. 
*  *  *  There  is  one  peculiarity  in  his  manner  which  we  must  not 
omit  to  mention,  viz.:  that  it  contains  in  about  equal  ^proportions,  gen- 
tleness and  jire^  two  things  theoretically  inconsistent  with  each  other, 
but  practically  exemplified  in  the  South  Church  every  Sabbath.  As 
an  extempore  speaker  especially  his  powers  are  extraordinary.  Take 
liim  when  and  where  you  will,  on  any  subject,  in  the  pulpit  or  on  the 
platform,  or  in  the  conference  room,  he  is  always  ready  and  always 
good,  seldom  hesitating  or  recalling  a  word,  but  going  on.like  a  quiet, 
steady  stream,  supplied  by  never-failing  springs,  until  he  has  occapied 
the  time  allotted  him,  or  accomplished  the  end  at  which  he  aimed." 

After  a  pastorate  of  six  years.  Dr.  Carroll  resigned  in  New  Haven, 
and  visited  Europe  a  second  time,  preaching  in  the  principal  cities. 
In  Paris  he  labored  very  earnestly  for  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  as  well  as  officiating  during  the  week  and  on  Sabbaths 
in  the  American,  English,  and  French  chapels.  On  leaving  the  city 
he  was  tendered  the  compliment  of  a  breakfast,  the  clergy  and  laity 
present  representing  the  various  Protestant  denominations,  and  the 
Christian  Association.  The  American  Register,  of  Paris,  thus  notices 
the  event: 

"Dr.  Carroll  being  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Italy,  his  friends 
met  to  testify  their  personal  respect  for  him  as  a  gentleman,  and  also 
for  his  good  and  willing  services  to  each  during  his  short  stay  in 
Paris.  These  acknowledgments  took  a  more  tangible  form  than  that 
of  an  excellent  breakfast  and  excellent  speeches, — a  fine  Bible  was 
presented  to  the  Rev.  Doctor,  on  the  fly  leaf  of  which  were  written 

68 


REV.     J.     HALSTEP     CARROLL,     D.  D. 

the  names  of  the  Eev,  gentlemen  present,  and  those  of  representatives 
of  the  Association,  and  the  following  flattering  address;  '  An  offering 
of  friendship  from  the  Protestant  clergy  and  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  of  Paris,  expressive  of  their  high  appreciation  of 
him  as  a  brother  dearly  beloved  for  his  own  and  his  work's  sake.' 
After  breakfast  the  presentation  was  made,  when  deserving  eulogies 
were  passed  on  the  honored  guest.  The  following  resolution,  beau- 
tifully engrossed,  was  presented  by  the  committee  on  behalf  of  the 
Association  as  expressive  further  of  their  appreciation :  '  Resolved^ 
While  expressing  our  thanks  to  all  the  kind  donors  who  have  so 
generonsly  helped  us,  we  feel  that  special  gratitude  is  due  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  of  New  Haven,  U.  S.,  our  efficient  temporary  Vice- 
president.  To  his  indefatigable  and  successful  labors  this  Associa- 
tion is  largely  indebted  for  the  means  which  have  provided  and  fur- 
nished our  new  rooms;  for  the  general  interest  and  sympathy  awak- 
ened in  our  behalf;  and  above  all,  for  his  religious  instruction  and 
influence,  which  have  given  such  spirited  impulse  to  us  as  a  Christian 
Association.  That  God  may  bless  and  reward  him  is  the  prayer  of 
those  with  whom  his  name  will  ever  be  a  household  word.'  " 

In  May,  1869,  he  became  pastor  of  the  Lee  Avenue  Reformed 
Church,  Brooklyn.  Here  signal  success  crowned  his  ministry.  The 
statistics  of  the  church  show,  besides  a  phenomenal  growth  in  the 
congregation,  an  addition  of  two  hundred  and  forty-six  to  the  roll  of 
membership,  and  of  these,  one  hundred  and  sixty -five  united  on  con- 
fession of  faith.  During  the  two  years  of  his  pastorate,  each  year 
nearly  doubled  the  accessions  of  any  of  the  fifteen  previous  years  of 
the  church's  history. 

In  1871  he  accepted  a  call  to  his  present  church,  the  East  Re- 
formed, on  Bedford  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  then  in  a  very  feeble  condi- 
tion. The  congregation  numbered  only  thirty-seven  persons,  and  the 
Sunday  School  scarcely  existed,  save  in  name.  Since  the  settlement 
of  Dr.  Carroll,  one  of  the  most  elegant  church  edifices  in  Brooklyn 
has  been  erected.  It  will  seat  comfortably  one  thousand  persons, 
and  its  spacious  lecture  rooms,  Sunday  school  and  conference  rooms, 
its  parlors  and  appliances  are  all  most  beautiful  and  convenient. 
The  Sunday  school,  from  forty  pupils,  has  gone  up  to  three  hundred. 
The  church,  from  thirty-seven  members,  to  three  hundred  and  seven, 
— an  increase  in  one  year  and  a  half  of  three  hundred  per  cent,  in 
attendance,  and  four  hundred  per  cent,  in  revenue.  The  parsonage 
which  adjoins  the  church  is  commodious,  containing  thirteen  rooms, 

69 


REV.     J.      HALSTED     CARROLL,     D.  i;. 

wliile  the  illuminated  steeple  and  clock  make  the  church  edifice  the 
distinguishing  attraction  of  the  locality.  The  whole  property  cost 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  congregation  com- 
pletely fills  the  house,  and  camp-stools  are  in  requisition  every  Sun- 
day to  accommodate  the  additional  crowd  of  people. 

Dr.  Carroll  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Hampden  Sidney 
College,  in  1868.  Occasionally  he  delivers  public  addresses  out  of 
the  pulpit,  in  which  it  has  been  truthfully  said,  "he  is  at  home, 
knowing  exactly  where  and  how  to  strike  the  popular  heart."  At 
an  Irish  Eelief  meeting  in  New  Haven,  for  an  hour  or  more  he  elec- 
trified an  immense  audience,  who  responded  with  cheer  upon  cheer. 
The  Philadelphia  Press  speaks  in  these  terms  of  an  oration  delivered 
by  Dr.  Can-oil  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Atheu;»um  Literary  Society 
of  Delaware  College,  on  the  subject  of  "  Men  and  Things  Abroad." 
"  The  oration  was  masterly  throughout,  exhibiting  great  artistic  ex- 
cellence and  rare  specimens  of  varied  and  genuine  eloquence — elo- 
quence of  the  intellect,  imagination,  and  the  emotions.  Judging 
from  the  effect  last  evening,  we  would  say  that  Dr.  Carroll  has  few 
superiors  in  this  country  as  an  orator.  His  manner  is  in  the  highest 
sense  dramatic,  and  he  seems  to  sway  his  audience  at  will.  At  one 
time,  by  a  dash  of  wit  and  humor,  convulsing  them  with  laughter; 
at  another,  by  some  passage  or  picture  of  surpassing  pathos,  melting 
them  to  tears." 

Dr.  Carroll  has  a  well-proportioned  and  graceful  figure.  His  head 
is  large,  with  a  face  of  striking  intellectuality.  He  has  warmth 
and  sincerity  in  his  manners,  at  the  same  time  he  displays  a  natural 
courtliness  and  dignity  which  are  always  agreeable  to  behold  in  a 
man  of  the  clerical  profession.  In  the  pulpit  his  mastery  over  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  masses  is  perfect  and  irresistible;  and  in  the 
social  walks  he  leads  all  equally  caj^tive  to  the  fascination  of  his 
personal  character.  His  ministerial  work  has  been  successful  in  the 
extreme.  Modestly  bearing  the  fame  which  it  has  already  brought 
to  him,  he  is  with  every  day's  maturing  powers  giving  larger  talents 
and  a  bolder  energy  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 

70 


EEV.    GAWN   CAMPBELL, 

LA.TE  r».4LSTOTl  OF  THE  FOUTY  rOURTil  STREET 
UNITED  I»ItE©I$YTE:ilIAIV  CHURCH,  ]VE:\V"  YORlt. 


EV.  GAWN  CAMPBELL  was  born  in  Down  county, 
Ireland,  about  the  year  1824.  By  reason  of  the  loss  of 
certain  records  he  is  himself  in  doubt  as  to  the  exact  date 
of  his  birth,  but  thinks  it  to  have  been  in  the  year  we 
have  named.  His  early  studies  were  at  the  common 
^7^  school  of  Barnamaghery,  his  native  township.  He  then  studied 
theology  with  the  Eev.  Archibald  Lowry,  who  kept  a  classical-  school 
at  Crossgar,  in  the  same  count3\  After  this  he  went  to  the  Belfast 
College,  and  after  three  years  of  study  took  the  general  certificate,  as 
it  is  called,  which  is  the  same  as  the  diploma  of  the  American  col- 
leges. He  next  entered  upon  his  regular  theological  coarse,  which 
continued  for  two  years,  until  1843.  In  1844  he  was  licensed  as  a 
Presbyterian  minister  by  the  Presbytery  of  Down  county,  and 
preached  for  some  time  in  different  parts  of  Ireland. 

He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1849,  and  landed  at  New  York. 
He  was  first  settled  over  the  Associate  Presbyterian  Church  at  Greens- 
borough,  Vermont,  where  he  remained  eleven  years.  In  1861  he  was 
called  to  the  congregation  of  United  Presbyterians,  over  which  he 
still  presides. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America  is  so  called 
by  reason  of  a  union  of  the  two  bodies  formerly  known  as  the  Asso- 
ciate and  the  Associate  Keformed  Presbyterian  Churches,  which  was 
consummated  at  Pittsburgh,  May  26th,  1858.  There  are  in  the  city 
of  New  York  eight  churches  of  this  sect.  They  differ  from  the 
other  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  faith  in  regard  to  the  communion, 
psalmody,  and  instrumental  music  in  the  worship  of  God.  On  these 
points  they  hold  to  close  communion,  use  only  the  book  of  Psalms 
contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  will  not  allow  the  use  of  mu- 


71 


REV.     GAWN    CAMPBELL. 

sical  instruments  in  their  churches,  as  they  were  not  found  in  the 
Jewish  synagogue  or  the  primitive  churches  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  Forty-fourtli  Street  congregation  was  originally  a  mission 
station  of  Associate  Eeformed  Presbyterians,  who  commenced  wor- 
ship at  National  Hall,  in  Forty-fourth  street,  between  Eighth  and 
Ninth  avenues.  The  enterprise  commenced  in  April,  1855,  and  after 
about  ten  months,  early  in  1867,  was  organized  as  an  Associate 
Church,  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  James  B.  Whitten.  By 
the  union  at  Pittsburgh  the  congregation  became  known  as  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church.  The  congregation  removed  to  Eagle 
Hall,  in  Forty-fourth  street,  and  thence  to  Morton  Hall,  in  Forty- 
third  street.  In  1858  a  new  church  edifice,  which  had  been  erected 
in  Forty-fourth  street,  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  avenues,  was  oc- 
cupied.    Mr.  Whitten  was  succeeded  by  the  present  pastor. 

Mr.  Campbell  is  the  author  of  two  small  works,  entitled  re- 
spectively "  A  Catechism  on  some  of  the  Principles  and  Practices 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,*'  and  "A  Catechism  on  the 
Sacraments  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church." 

He  is  about  of  the  medium  height,  active,  and  erect  He  has  a 
round  head,  regular  features,  and  a  countenance  of  considerable  in- 
telligence and  very  decided  amiability  His  manners  are  not  only 
courteous,  but  extremely  cordial  and  frank  with  all  persons.  He 
is  a  plain  man,  utterly  devoid  of  pretension  of  anj^  kind,  and  has 
all  the  popular  qualities  of  character  common  to  such  persons.  His 
religious  feelings,  and,  in  fact,  all  his  opinions,  are  earnestly  and 
sincerely  expressed,  and  his  conversation  on  all  topics  is  fluent  and 
interesting. 

Mr.  Campbell's  style  of  preaching  is  devout,  and  at  the  same 
time  emphatic.  He  has  a  fine  flow  of  language  and  a  great  deal  of 
aptness  of  expression,  and  withal  an  earnestness  of  manner  which 
shows  his  own  deep  convictions  and  ardent  desire  to  make  plain  the 
truth  which  he  is  commissioned  to  proclaim.  You  see  that  he  is 
intent  upon  this  one  thing,  of  unfolding  religious  truth  and  drawing 
sinners  into  the  fold  of  his  Master.  He  does  not  seek  to  advance 
the  preacher  into  prominence  by  indulging  in  peculiarities  of  thought 
or  manners  which  will  attract  attention  to  himself,  but  he  speaks  as 
any  other  man  might  speak  instructed  in  the  Scriptures  and  ordained 
to  preach  them.  In  fact,  he  hides  within  himself,  he  shrinks  under 
the  responsibility  of  his  position,  and  stands  with  fear,  and  his  sole 
reliance  on  divine  power.     This  is  spiritual  preaching.     It  is  always 

72 


REV.    GAWN    CAMPBELL. 

solemn ;  it  differs  cas  much  from  the  showy,  sensational  sort,  as  did 
the  humble  fishermen  of  Galilee  from  the  preachers  of  the  latter  kind 
in  this  day,  but  is  efficacious  in  the  saving  of  souls. 

Mr.  Campbell  toils  early  and  late  in  his  particular  vineyard.  He 
is  a  hard,  unwearying  worker  in  all  places  and  under  all  circum- 
stances. He  is  looking  for  neither  fame  nor  emoluments,  but  he 
is  following  the  Crucified,  who  has  called  him  to  his  mission.  An 
upright  character,  a  pious  life,  and  a  self-sacrificing  regard  for  the 
spiritual  and  temporal  well-being  of  all  his  flock,  give  him  a  pass- 
port to  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  old  and  young.  His 
ministerial  exertions  may  not  succeed  in  placing  him  among  "the 
few  immortal  names  not  born  to  die,"  but  his  career  will  fill  the 
full  measure  of  the  requirements  of  the  useful  citizen,  faithful  pastor, 
and  devoted  friend. 

73 


REV.   ABRAM  B.  CARTER,   D.  D., 

I»^©TOIl    OF     THE    CJIXJKOn    OF    THE    H^OILiY 
SA^VIOXJK,     (EI?IlSCO¥»A.lL.,)     r<fEW    YORK. 


11^)  REV.  DR.  ABRAM  B.   CARTER  was  born  at  Trenton, 

P  New  Jersey,  May  8th,  1820.  His  grandfatlier  was  the 
Rev.  Dr.  A  bram  Beach,  at  one  time  assistant  minister  of 
Trinity  Church,  New  York,  and  his  father,  the  Rev. 
Abiel  Carter,  also  a  well-known  and  talented  Episcopal  clergy- 
man of  his  day.  His  early  studies  were  at  the  Institute  at 
Flushing,  Long  Island,  conducted  by  the  Rev.  William  A.  Muhlen- 
berg. He  next  entered  Rutgers  College,  New  Brunsvrick,  where  he 
took  his  degree  in  course,  and  then  studied  theology  privately,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Drs.  Ogilby  and  Stubbs.  He  was  made 
deacon  in  the  Episcopal  ministry  in  1845,  at  Christ  Church,  New 
Brunswick,  by  Bishop  Doane,  and  priest  in  1846,  at  Trinity  Church, 
Newark,  by  the  same  Bishop.  He  was  first  settled  in  1846  as  i-ector 
of  St.  John's  Church,  Troy,  New  York,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
After  this  he  went  to  St.  Ann's,  Morrisania,  where  he  officiated  four 
years,  and  then  went  to  Christ  Church,  Savannah,  Georgia,  where 
his  father  had  been  rector  before  him.  Here  the  climate  did  not 
agree  with  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  terminate  his  relations  with 
the  parish  in  less  than  a  year.  He  nest  accepted  a  call  to  St.  John's 
Church,  Yonkers,  New  York,  where  he  remained  sixteen  years. 
Having  received  a  very  pressing  call  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Saviour,  New  York  city,  he  accepted  it,  and  entered  upon  his  duties 
in  December,  1868.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Rutgers 
College  in  1856. 

The  parish  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Saviour  was  founded  by 
the  late  distinguished  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  and  was  the  last 
work  of  his  remarkable  and  useful  life.  After  leaving  Baltimore,  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  New  York,  and  his  many  friends  urged  him 
to  establish  a  new  parish.  He  was  somewhat  loth  to  do  so,  as  his 
years  were  beginning  to  weigh  upon  him,  and  more  particularly  as 


REV.     ABEAM     B.     CARTER,     D.  D. 

events  connected  witli  him,  growing  out  of  the  war  with  the  South, 
had  saddened,  disappointed,  and  almost  unfitted  him  for  ministerial 
duties.  A  man  of  most  varied  and  commanding  abilities,  and  ot 
great  force  and  character,  he  was  a  Hercules  in  any  work,  but  now 
he  sought  the  retirement  and  associations  of  his  study  and  private 
life,  rather  than  further  efforts  in  the  public  arena.  He  yielded  to  the 
wishes  of  his  friends,  however,  and  commenced  religious  services  in 
one  of  the  chapels  of  the  University.  His  congregation  grew,  and 
at  length  it  was  determined  to  build  a  church. 

Mr.  William  Niblo,  one  of  Dr.  Hawks'  most  devoted  friends, 
made  a  donation  of  some  very  valuable  and  eligible  lots  on  Twenty - 
fifth  street,  between  Madison  and  Fourth  avenues,  and  here  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  a  church  structure  was  laid  in  the  earlj^  part  of  1866. 
The  ceremonies  were  conducted  by  Dr.  Hawks,  and  were  of  a 
particularly  impressive  character.  Not  long  after,  he  passed  away 
from  earth,  not  being  permitted  to  see  the  fair  structure  rise  to  com- 
pletion. The  church  was  opened  in  1867.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
elaborate  and  beautiful  buildings  of  the  kind  in  the  country,  and  cost 
over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  front  is  of  yellow  stone, 
ornamented  with  sculpture  and  other  carvings,  and  the  interior  is 
also  very  rich  and  tasteful. 

Dr.  Carter  is  rather  over  the  medium  height,  with  a  well-propor- 
tioned figure.  His  head  shows  intellectual  development,  and  Iiis  face 
is  fall  of  intelligent  and  amiable  expression.  His  manners  are  not 
only  courteous,  but  unusually  warm  and  kindly  with  all  persons. 
He  always  meets  you  with  a  cheerful  smile  and  a  friendly  grasp  of 
the  hand.  He  is  a  man  who  carries  sunshine  wherever  he  goes. 
While  he  has  all  the  proper  dignity  becoming  one  of  his  sacred  pro- 
fession, and  always  maintains  its  properties  to  the  utmost,  still  his 
nature  is  always  buoyant  with  a  charming  animation,  and  bis  con- 
versation is  not  less  sprightly  than  profitable.  He  is  genial  and 
lovable  in  his  whole  character.  He  is  one  of  those  who  find  a  silver 
lining  in  every  cloud,  and  who  detect  something  good  in  almost 
every  character.  He  looks  on  the  bright  side  of  life,  and  searches 
for  the  good  rather  than  the  evil  in  the  human  composition.  Hence, 
no  matter  what  may  be  his  disappointments  and  his  apprehensions, 
you  find  him  cheerful  with  hope.  In  the  family  circle,  in  his 
public  duties,  in  all  the  manifold  ofl&ces  of  his  ministerial  life,  he  is 
the  same  man  of  sunny  presence,  of  inspiring  counsel,  of  noble, 

manly  example.      Men  go  to  him  to  laush,  and  they  also  go  ii> 

75 


KEV.     ABRAM     B.     CARTER,     D.  D. 

sorrow,  for  he  has  in  either  case  a  nature  which  makes  the  hour 
beneficial  in  its  teaching.  He  is  a  thoughtful  man,  and  he  is  not  a 
person  given  to  levity.  But  he  has  this  sui-prising  and  unusual 
calm,  resolute,  cheerful  disposition,  those  soft,  gentle,  winning  ways, 
and  those  pleasant,  cheering,  comforting  tones  and  words,  that  alto- 
gether form  a  character  such  as  is  a  blessing  to  himself  and  to  all 
others. 

A  teacher  of  serious  things,  and  a  monitor  over  the  actions  of  his 
fellow-men,  still  this  godly  man  understands  his  duties  and  obliga- 
tions too  well  to  forget  that  it  is  gentle  counsels  and  cheering  words 
which  are,  after  all,  most  powerful  in  their  influence  upon  the  human 
heart.  He  makes  principles,  conscience,  and  faith  as  eternal  and 
immovable  as  the  foundation  of  the  throne  of  Omnipotence  itself, 
but  he  does  not  allow  any  of  these  to  darken  the  heart  with  religious 
gloom.  He  shows  in  himself  the  Christian  man,  with  a  heart  light- 
some and  joyous,  and  shows  a  life  bereft  of  only  its  sorrows  through 
sin. 

The  style  of  preaching  adopted  by  Dr.  Carter  is  a  forcible  and 
pleasing  example  of  the  purpose  to  make  evident  the  efiiciency  and 
beauty  of  God's  love.  His  whole  scope  of  thought  seeks  this  end, 
and  his  manner  enforces  it  with  a  tenderness  and  affectionate  interest 
which  is  irresistible.  His  voice  is  soft  as  it  falls  upon  the  ear,  and 
his  words  reach  the  heart  as  gently  and  soothingly  as  the  summer 
rain  falls  upon  the  thirsting  flowers.  It  is  a  good,  kind  man  speak- 
ing the  undoubted  promises  of  a  loving  Father  in  the  skies. 

He  is  effective  in  the  highest  degree,  but  it  is  without  any  special 
effort.  He  is  modest,  and  totally  without  display  in  either  matter  or 
manner  of  delivery,  but  his  face  beams  with  goodness,  and  his  lips 
have  the  impress  of  truth.  None  go  away  dissatisfied  from  his 
preaching.  The  old  and  the  young,  the  pious  and  the  worldlj^,  can 
each  and  all  accept  its  teachings,  for  they  embrace  truths  of  religion, 
morals,  and  everyday  experience  which  cannot  be  disputed,  and  they 
are  offered  in  a  manner  to  win,  and  never  to  offend- 

76 


REY.  SAMUEL   T.   CARTER, 

ILiAJTH   f>JLSTOR  OF  THE  EIGHTY-SIXTH  STREET 
I»  KES15YTE:I1IAJV    CHXJKCH,    IS^EW    YORK:. 


|EV.  SAMUEL  T.  OAKTBR  was  born  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  July  22cl,  1840.  He  is  the  son  of  Robert 
Carter,  the  noted  iSTew  York  publisher  of  Presbyterian 
and  and  other  religious  publications,  who  has  likewise 
another  son  in  the  ministry.  He  was  graduated  at  the 
^  New  York  University  in  1858,  and  at  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary  in  1861.  After  graduation  at  the  seminary  he  went  to 
Europe,  where  he  passed  fifteen  months  in  interesting  travel.  He 
was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  JSTew  York,  and  ordained  and  in- 
stalled by  the  same  Presbytery  as  pastor  of  the  Westminster  Presby- 
terian church,  Yonkers,  New  York,  in  1862  where  he  remained  five 
years.  In  October,  1867,  he  commenced  his  duties  as  pastor  of 
Eighty-sixth  street  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York.  He  is  now  the 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Huntington,  Long  Is- 
land, 

Mr.  Carter  is  above  the  average  height,  sparely  made,  erect,  and 
active.  His  head  is  not  large,  and  the  features  are  small  and  deli- 
cately molded.  His  complexion  is  light,  and  his  hair  red  He  has 
an  exceedingly  agreeable  expression  of  face,  and  his  manners  are 
quiet  and  courteous.  While  he  is  not  to  be  called  diffident,  he  has  a 
modesty  which  is  not  unbecoming  in  a  young  minister.  His  habits 
are  sedate  and  student  like.  Still  on  the  threshold  of  his  profes- 
sional life,  he  has  not  as  yet  mingled  much  in  the  public  duties  to 
which  the  clergy  are  invited  from  time  to  time.  He  has  not  em- 
broiled himself  in  any  of  the  questions  of  the  hour,  either  of  Church 
or  State,  and  he  has  allowed  nothing  to  disturb  the  "  noiseless  tenor  " 
of  his  way  in  pursuing  his  still  advancing  studies,  and  looking  to 
the  spiritual   condition  of  the  people  in  his  charge.     Under  these 

77 


REV.    SAMUEL    T.    CARTER. 

circumstances,  you  find  him  with  a  calmness  of  temper,  a  simplicity 
of  manners,  and  an  earnest  devotion  which  are  not  usual  in  the 
clergyman  who  is  heated  and  eager  in  the  race  of  professional  ambi- 
tion. He  is  free,  unrestrained,  and  sincere  in  all  his  intercourse ;  he 
is  gentle,  kindly,  charitable,  and  full  of  Christian  love  in  all  his  acts ; 
his  nature  has  been  clouded  by  no  disappointment,  and  his  hopes 
have  received  no  shocks  from  the  world's  trials.  In  young  man- 
hood, inexperienced  as  the  world  goes,  still  he  has  the  culture  of  a 
well-trained  student,  and  the  strength  of  moral  and  religious  princi- 
ples of  the  pure  and  brave  young  heart. 

His  sermons  are  composed  with  care.  And  here,  too,  the  same 
caution  and  circumspection  in  thought,  expression,  and  style  are 
shown  that  mark  his  conduct  in  other  respects.  He  expounds  the 
doctrines  of  his  church  with  intelligence,  but  he  parades  no  conceited 
opinions  of  his  own ;  he  discusses  the  questions  of  morals,  but  he 
makes  no  assaults  upon  the  people,  as  if  he  had  obtained  perfection 
himself.  A  poor  sinner,  but  one  instructed  to  teach  the  Scriptures, 
is  the  character  which  he  bears  in  the  public  services.  He  launches 
no  thunderbolts,  he  assumes  no  air  and  tone  of  authority,  but  he 
comes  in  all  meekness  and  tenderness  with  the  comforting  words  of 
his  Master.  His  voice  is  soft  and  plaintive,  but  has  sufficient  vol- 
ume to  give  him  full  control  over  the  largest  audience. 

The  highest  qualities  of  greatness  are  found  in  this  young  man. 
The  modesty  of  his  character,  the  propriety  of  his  conduct,  the  ster- 
ling excellence  of  his  piinciples,  are  a  basis  on  which  he  can  build  a 
structure  of  manhood  which  in  time  to  come  may  be  a  bulwark  for 
morality  and  religion,  for  society  and  the  church.  Assumption,  ar- 
rogance, and  self-sufficiency  may  do  for  the  hour,  but  those  who  are 
looking  for  an  enduring  reputation  in  the  ministry,  or  any  other  pro- 
fession, must  establish  it  by  other  and  nobler  elements  of  character- 
Mr.  Carter  is  one  of  the  few  who  are  seeking  it  by  the  right  path,  and 
of  these  he  seems  the  least  likely  to  fail. 

78 


REV.  JOHN  WHITE  CHADWICK. 

P^^TOR   or"    THE   ©ECOlVr*   XJ]VITA.KI^]V   CI£TJPtCH:, 

brook:  L.YIV. 


EY.  JOHN  WHITE  CHAD  WICK  was  born  at  Marble- 
bead,  Massachusetts,  October  19tb,  1840.  He  pursued 
an  academic  course  at  the  Bridgewater  State  Normal 
School,  one  of  the  four  schools  of  the  kind  in  IMassachu- 
setts,  at  the  Phillips  Academy,  Exeter,  and  at  a  later  period  in 
private.  He  entered  Harvard  Divinity  School  in  1861,  and 
was  graduated  with  his  class  in  186-i.  After  graduation  he  was 
called  to  the  Unitarian  Society  at  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  but  did 
not  accept,  having  already  agreed  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  Second 
Society,  Brooklyn,  for  the  term  of  three  months.  He  commenced 
his  duties  in  Brooklyn  September  11th,  1864,  and  soon  after  re- 
ceived a  call  as  the  regular  pastor,  which  he  accepted,  and  was  or- 
dained December  21st,  1864. 

The  Second  Unitarian  Society  was  organized  in  South  Brooklyn 
about  1853.  Eev.  Mr.  Longfellow,  brother  of  the  poet  Longfellow, 
was  called  as  the  first  pastor  in  the  following  year,  who  resigned 
after  laboring  ten  years,  by  reason  of  ill-health.  He  was  followed 
by  Eev.  Mr.  Staples,  who  remained  until  his  death,  in  February, 
1864,  being  succeeded  by  Mr.  Chadwick.  In  1857  a  tasteful  chapel 
was  erected,  on  leased  ground,  on  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Congress 
streets,  at  a  cost  of  twenty-nine  thousand  dollars.  The  building  is  in 
the  form  of  a  cross,  with  a  low  roof,  tower,  and  three  entrances,  hav- 
ing interior  screens  of  wood  work  and  stained  glass.  The  pulpit  is 
a  semi-circular  recess,  having  a  background  of  red  upholstery.  On 
one  side  of  the  pulpit,  and  entered  from  it,  is  a  small  room  used  by 
the  minister  ;  and  on  the  other  side,  and  also  entered  from  it,  is  the 
organ  and  choir  gallery,  hung  with  red  curtains,  and  richly  painted 
and  ornamented.  There  are  places  for  four  singers,  whose  heads, 
when  standing,  appear  at  four  square  openings,  producing  the  effect 

79 


REV.     JOHN     WHITE     CHADWICK. 

of  as  many  framed  pictures.     The  exterior  and  interior,  in  style, 
painting,  and  ornamentation,  are  strikingly  unique. 

The^branch  of  faith  held  by  the  society  is  of  the  rationalistic, 
philosophical  school.  Mr.  Longfellow  introduced  into  his  church  a 
very  beautiful  vesper  service,  which,  in  a  somewhat  different  form, 
is  now  used  in  several  of  the  churches  of  the  denomination. 

Mr.  Chad  wick  is  under  the  average  height,  and  of  a  slight  figure. 
His  face  is  pale  and  youthful.  His  usual  expression  is  one  of  seri- 
ousness; the  eyes  are  almost  mournful,  and  his  smiles  are  like  quick 
flashes  of  light  fading  away  into  deeper  gloom.  His  nature 
approaches  to  womanly  gentleness,  and  in  all  respects  is  pervaded 
with  the  most  delicate  and  thorough  spiritual  sensibility.  At  an  age 
when  dignity  is  commonly  the  merest  affectation,  and  eccentricity 
unthoueht  of,  still  there  is  much  of  the  former  m  his  self-evident 
strength  of  character,  and  something  of  the  latter  in  his  half-dreamy 
thoughtfulness  and  modes  of  action  and  speech.  It  is  certain  that 
he  is  very  little  influenced  by  sun-ounding  circumstances,  following 
the  bent  of  strong  natural  impulses  with  a  child-like  impetuosity  and 
simplicity.  He  seems  like  one  whose  pure,  innocent  nature  had  re- 
ceived no  shoclcs  from  the  world's  rudeness,  and  was  still  in  child- 
hood's innocency.  There  is  also  great  self-reliance.  Not  that  he 
really  feels  an  over-confidence  in  himself,  for,  put  to  the  point,  he 
would  declare  that  he  had  not  the  least.  But  he  has  a  wide-awake 
irresistible  conscience,  and  it  is  this  which  will  never  suffer  him  to 
depart  from  the  rule  which  brings  everything  to  its  judgment  and 
test.  He  is  a  genial  person,  and  always  enters  largely  into  the 
spirit  of  the  social  hour.  In  conversation  he  never  speaks  without 
reflection,  and  generally  has  frequent  pauses  for  the  better  digesting 
of  his  thoughts. 

He  is  not  without  peculiarities  in  the  pulpit.  Here  he  shows  a 
serious  dignity,  which  is  striking.  In  prayer  he  crosses  his  hands 
over  the  Bible,  and,  inclining  his  head  upon  his  breast,  speaks  in 
low,  broken,  and  pathetic  utterances.  He  preaches  with  the  same 
deliberation  that  he  talks.  Every  sentiment  has  been  held  before 
the  mirror  of  conscience  and  sanctioned  by  it,  and  he  utters  it  with 
his  heart's  utmost  sincerity.  His  voice  has  a  flat,  peculiar  tone,  but 
it  is  very  tender  and  emotional. 

80 


PiEY.  TALBOT  ^Y.  CHAMBERS,  D.  ])., 

0]VE     OF     TH:e:     I*JlSTOI1S    of    the    COLI^EOIA-TE 

re2fok]m:ei>  chxjkch,  ivi::w  Yonit. 


)EV.  DR.  TALBOT  W.  CHAMBERS  was  bora  at  Car- 
lisle, Pennsylvania,  February,  1819.  He  was  graduated 
at  Rutgers  College,  New  Brunswick,  and  studied  theology 
at  the  Seminary  of  the  Dutch  Church  in  New  Jersey,  and 
at  Princeton.  Having  been  licensed  to  preach  in  Mississippi,  in 
1838,  he  settled  at  Somerville,  New  Jersey,  in  the  following 
year.  In  1849  he  was  called  to  New  York,  to  become  one  of  the 
associate  pastors  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Collegiate  Church, 
in  which  position  he  still  continues.  The  ministers  of  the  Collegiate 
Church  are  the  Rev.  Dr.  De  Witt,  settled  in  1827  (not  now  in  active 
service)  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Yemilye,  settled  in  1839  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Tal- 
bot W.  Chambers,  settled  in  1849 ;  Rev.  Dr.  James  M.  Ludlow, 
settled  in  1868,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Ormiston,  settled  in  1870.  The  old 
plan  of  the  regular  alternating  of  these  ministers,  in  the  Sunday 
services  of  the  different  churches,  has  been  somewhat  modified.  The 
rule  is  followed  with  most  of  them  in  the  morning  service,  but  each 
active  minister  preaches  in  his  own  pulpit  at  least  once  each  Sun- 
day. 

Dr.  Chambers  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Columbia  Col- 
lege in  1853.  He  edited  the  "  Memoirs  of  Rev.  John  Henry  Livings- 
ton, D.  D.,"  and  is  the  author  of  the  history  of  the  "Noon  Prayer 
Meeting  of  the  North  Dutch  Church,"  and  the  ''  Life  of  Theodore 
Frelinghuysen." 

Dr.  Chambers  is  about  of  the  average  height,  and  of  slim  pro- 
portion. His  head  is  small,  and  his  face  pale  and  of  a  thoughtful, 
serious  expression.  He  has  a  round,  full  brow,  showing  a  large 
degree  of  intellectual  development  He  is  polite,  but  in  no  manner 
familiar  in  his  bearing,  and  at  all  times  evinces  much  sedateness. 
He  is  a  person  of  unwearying  studiousness,  and  of  great  conscien- 
tiousness and  exactness  of  life.  His  conversation  is  methodical,  and, 
like  his  actions,  devoid  of  all  impulsiveness. 

81 


REV.     TALBOT     W.     CHAMBEES,     D.  D. 

Dr.  Chambers  seems  to  Lave  tbe  complete  confidence  of  the  con- 
o-regations  of  the  different  Collegiate  organization.  Their  flices  grow 
bright  with  satisfaction  as  they  follow  his  sound,  doctrinal,  argument- 
ative sermons.  They  are  disturbed  by  no  flashy  rhetoric,  no  poetic 
rhapsodies,  and  no  new-fangled  philosophy.  There  are  no  attempts 
to  introduce  the  rant  of  the  rostrum,  the  style  of  the  stage,  or  the 
clap-trap  of  the  juggler.  It  is  not  an  oration  with  everything  sacri- 
ficed to  eloquence,  nor  is  it  a  lecture  filled  with  strange  fancy  and 
large  cullings  from  the  profane  poets.  But  it  is  a  seinnon  in  the 
strictest  sense.  The  text  is  not  some  sensational  word  or  line,  some 
abrupt  interrogatory  or  declaration,  after  the  manner  of  a  Beecher  or 
a  Cuyler.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  one  or  a  half-dozen  verses,  or  per- 
haps a  chapter,  which  is  intended  to  receive  the  serious  consideration 
of  the  critical  deacons  and  the  logically  inclined  congregation  on 
its  own  merits,  rather  than  from  any  peculiar  novelty  or  adroitness 
in  its  selection  or  arrangement.  Then  the  plainest  and  most  devout 
terms  known  to  the  English  language  are  used,  and  the  inspiration 
of  the  preacher  is  entirely  drawn  from  the  fountains  of  logic  and  of 
faith.  He  becomes  very  much  absorbed  in  liis  theme,  and  at  times 
gesticulates  with  a  degree  of  vehemence ;  but  as  for  any  glowing 
pictures  of  the  imagination,  or  any  thunders  of  eloquence,  there  are 
none.  Dr.  Chambers  does  not  believe  that  such  gloss  and  glitter, 
such  delicate  soothings  to  the  mind,  and  such  extraordinary  efforts 
to  move  the  blood,  have  anything  to  do  with  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  The  power  is  in  the  truth,  the  persuasion  is  in  the  necessi- 
ties of  a  lost  race,  and  the  success  is  the  favor  of  God.  We  have 
examined  several  of  Dr.  Chambers'  published  sei'mous  in  our  posses- 
sion, and  do  not  find  a  single  passage  wherein  he  departs  from  plain 
argument.  There  is  the  highest  evidence  of  sincerity,  piety,  and 
ability,  but  nothing  in  the  way  of  display.  He  ranks  with  the  most 
popular  and  ablest  of  the  ministers  of  the  Eeformed  Church,  and 
is  recognized  as  a  man  of  considerable  literary  ability. 

Seeking  only  those  triumphs  which  come  from  the  regeneration 
of  souls,  and  those  honors  which  are  the  rightful  portion  of  such  as 
are  pure  of  life  and  cultivated  of  mind,  Dr.  Chambers  never  deviates 
from  the  strict  line  of  his  professional  duties.  His  time  and  talents 
are  all  given  to  those  works  which  best  serve  the  church  and  illu- 
minate the  narrow  road  to  God 

82 


J/. 


REY.  EDWrX  H.  CHAPm,  D.  D., 

I»^4^TOIl     OF     THE     rOXJRTtr    XJ]VIVi:ilSA.3L.IST    SO- 
CIETY,    IS'ETV    YORIt. 


EEY.  DR.  EDWIN  H.  CHAPIN  was  born  at  Union 
Village,  Washington  County,  New  York,  December  29th, 
1814.  He  received  his  academic  education  at  a  seminary 
in  Bennington,  Vermont,  and  his  early  tastes  are  said  to 
bave  inclined  to  the  law.  For  a  time  he  was  associate  editor  of 
«^  the  Magazine  and  Advocate,  one  of  the  early  Universalist  news- 
papers in  Utica.  In  1887,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  be  commenced 
his  ministry  as  tbe  pastor  of  the  Independent  Christian  Churcb  of 
Ricbmond,  Virginia.  He  removed  to  Charlestown,  Massachusetts  in 
1840,  to  become  tbe  pastor  of  the  Univei-salist  Churcb,  where  he 
remained  six  years.  His  reputation  was  already  extensive,  both  as  a 
preacher  and  stin-ing  orator  in  many  of  tbe  reforms  of  the  day.  In 
1846  Dj'.  Cliapin  went  to  tbe  School  Street  Univerealist  Church, 
Boston,  as  associate  pastor  wicb  Hosea  Ballon,  and  in  1848  was 
called  to  his  present  pastorship  over  tbe  Fourtb  Universalist  Society 
of  New  York  city. 

This  Society  at  tbe  time  bad  a  cbnrcb  in  Murray  street,  corner 
of  Churcb.  Under  Dr.  Chapin's  preaching  tbe  congregation  in- 
creased in  numbers  and  influence,  and  very  soon  tbe  building  could 
not  accommodate  tbe  crowds  wbicb  attended  every  service.  Ar- 
rangements were  made  to  take  the  cburcb  on  Broadway,  about  to  be 
vacated  by  Dr.  Bellow's  Unitarian  congregation,  who  bad  built  an 
exceeding  fine  structure  on  Fourtb  avenue.  Up  to  a  recent  period 
Dr.  Cbapin  occupied  this  spacious  church,  drawing  tbe  largest  as- 
semblages in  tbe  city.  The  congregation  became  the  representative 
of  large  wealtb,  and  their  cburcb  organization  was  con  iucted  on  tbe 
most  liberal  scale  of  expenditure  in  regard  to  tbe  salary  of  the  pas- 
tor, music,  etc.  At  lengtb  tbe  congregation  determined  to  remove 
up-town,  and  the  cburcb  was  sold,  and  stores  bave  been  erected 
•^n  tbe  site.      Lots  were  purchased  in  the  upper  portion  of  Fifth 

83 


REV.     EDWIN     H.     CHAPIN,     D.  D. 

Avenue,  and  one  of  tlie  most  magnificent  structures  in  New  York 
has  been  erected.  The  congregation  is  composed  of  many  of  the 
young  and  active  men  of  the  city,  aud  persons  of  the  most  conflict- 
ing religious  views. 

Although  in  communion  with  the  Universalist  denomination.  Dr. 
Chapin's  sympathies  have  far  outrun  the  technical  boundaries  of  a 
sect  His  religious  views  were  originally  affected  powerfully  by  Dr. 
Channing's  published  writings,  and  by  the  leaders  of  the  Univer- 
salist faith;  and  he  is  warmly  interested  in  all  the  literature  and 
tendencies  issuing  from  the  most  free  and  thoughtful  circles  of  Pro- 
testant Christendom,  and  that  are  beginning  to  receive  the  title  of 
"The  Broad  Church  Movement" 

Dr.  Chapin  received  the  degrees  of  A.  M.  and  D.  D.  from  Har- 
vard University.  His  published  works  consist  of  several  volumes 
of  sermons,  religious  lectures,  and  occasional  discourses.  "  The 
Crown  of  Thorns  "  has  had  a  wide  circulation.  He  has  delivered  lec- 
tures before  all  the  principal  lyceums  of  the  country,  and  has  a 
popularity  equal  to  that  of  any  of  the  orthodox  clergymen. 

In  1850  Dr.  Chapin  attended  the  Peace  congress  held  at  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  and  a  speech  delivered  by  him  was  the  most  elo- 
quent heard  during  the  session.  He  has  been  repeatedly  abroad  for 
his  health  niid  travel. 

Dr.  Chapin  is  about  of  the  average  height,  and  of  a  round,  heavy, 
corpulent  person.  He  has  a  good-sized,  round  head,  which  has  not 
much  neck  to  connect  it  with  his  shoulders.  His  brow  is  prominent, 
and  his  countenance  beams  with  intelligence  and  good  natura 
He  would  scarcely  be  taken  for  the  refined,  florid  orator  that  he  is: 
but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  is  a  man  of  marked  intellectual  powers, 
and,  above  all,  distinguished  for  the  practice  of  the  noblest  quali- 
ties of  the  heart  In  his  dress  he  in  no  manner  conforms  to  any  of 
the  cleiical  conventionalities. 

On  Sabbath  evening,  enter  the  fine  church  edifice  of  the  Fourth 
Universalist  Society.  Every  part  of  the  building  is  crowded,  in- 
cluding the  aisles,  stairways,  and  pulpit  steps.  The  people  are  a 
well-attu-ed  and  evidently  intelligent  class.  Just  at  this  time  a  hymn 
is  being  read,  and  all  over  the  church  men,  women,  and  children 
have  their  books,  intently  following  the  reader.  If  you  love  sacred 
poetry,  if  you  delight  in  correct  reading,  listen.  A  voice  clear, 
sweet,  and  impassioned  floats  to  the  ear.     Every  word  is  distinctly 

and  melodiously  pronounced,  the  sentiment  of  the  holy  song  strongly 

84 


REV.      EDWIN"     H,     CHAPIN,     D.  D. 

stirs  the  susceptibilities,  and  with  its  last  word  the  mind  is  left 
dreaming  of  realities  which  eloquence  has  made  vivid.  The  poet, 
the  orator,  and  the  spirit  of  divine  power  stand  personified  in  the 
reader.  It  is  an  utterance  of  words  which  flow  like  the  pleasant 
rippling  of  the  summer  rivulets — it  is  an  appeal  like  that  of  tears — 
it  is  an  earnestness  of  feeling  inspired  of  God.  The  arches  of  no  temple 
ever  resounded  with  a  voice  more  impressively  eloquent.  Many  clergy- 
men read  psalms  and  hymns  much  as  children  do  lessons.  They  disre- 
gard punctuation,  expand  sentences  into  verses,  and  overlap  verse  upon 
verse  until  meaning,  rhyme,  and  effect  are  altogether  lost.  Few  pretend 
to  listen  to  these  murderings  of  sense  and  harmonj^,  and  great  masses 
fail  to  realize  the  inspiration  to  be  drawn  from  the  thoughts  of  the 
sacred  poets.  But  it  is  not  so  in  Dr.  Chapin's  church.  Children 
stretch  their  necks  to  catch  every  one  of  the  beautifully  musical 
words  ;  and  even  the  aged  see  wrought  out  on  the  page  religious 
imagery  from  words  dim  to  their  sight,  but  sent  blazing  to  their 
souls.  Perhaps  the  syllables  are  sweeter  when  mingled  with  vocal 
and  instrumental  strains,  but  they  can  have  no  increased  power  as 
holy  utterances. 

Dr.  Chapin  is  as  greatl}'"  gifted  in  prayer.  The  opening  words 
are  in  silvery  whispers,  which  swell  into  a  louder  tone,  and  at  the 
close  die  away  into  whispers  again.  He  prays  from  the  heart.  It  is 
a  fountain  gushing  with  the  waters  of  affection,  charity,  and  faith, 
and  many  a  believer  here  can  see  these  waters  sparkling  in  the  sun- 
light of  God's  own  countenance.  The  sick,  the  sorrowing,  and  the 
poor  are  especially  remembered.  In  touching  accents  of  pleading, 
and  with  the  zeal  of  an  exhaustlcss  love,  he  presents  their  claims  for 
divine  aid.  Now  he  folds  his  hands,  looks  upward,  and  pauses  for 
an  instant  A  great  thought  seems  to  be  melting  within  his  bosom, 
which  even  he  can  scarcely  clothe  in  words.  In  language  of  lofty 
power  he  now  speaks  of  the  coming  triumph  of  the  cross.  Before, 
all  was  pleading  and  pathos,  but  now  the  tone  is  one  of  joy  and  ex- 
ultation. The  change  is  from  the  murmuring  of  sad  music  to  the 
ringing  of  merry  chimes.  His  face  glows  with  light,  he  uses  words 
of  deeper  significance,  and  his  wonderful  fluency  as  an  extemporaneous 
speaker  begins  to  appear.  The  little  stream  has  expanded  into  a 
torrent,  and  sweeps  with  it  flowers  which  mingle  their  perfume  with 
its  flood.  Iniquity  rolls  up  like  a  scroll  from  his  sight,  and  his  de- 
lighted eyes  gaze  upon  the  scenes  of  a  millennium,  while  his  tongue 
paints  them  in  the  coloring  of  religious  transport  and  an  ardent 

85 


REV.     EDWIN     H .     C  H  A  P  I  N  ,     D.  D. 

fancy.     Then,  solemnly  invoking  a  blessing  upon  the  remaining  ser- 
vices, the  orator  in  prayer  concludes. 

Dr.  Chapin  is  liberally  endowed  with  the  capacity  for  vigorous 
and  connected  extemporaneous  address.  In  the  morning  service  he 
preaches  with  very  little  preparation.  It  is  his  custom,  however,  to 
produce  one  completely  written  discourse  every  week,  which  is 
spoken  from  manuscript  in  the  evening.  These  prepared  sermons 
are  logically  arranged,  argumentative  to  some  extent,  full  of  vigorous 
expressions  and  original  thought,  but,  above  all,  abound  in  beautiful 
imagery  and  impassioned  eloquence.  Indeed,  in  this  latter  respect, 
parts  of  them  are  gems  of  the  mind.  He  is  not  only  particularly 
happy  in  the  selection  of  his  terms  of  expression,  but  his  illustra- 
tions are  made  in  language  of  extraordinary  originality  and  beauty. 
There  is  nothing  which  he  will  not  twine  in  poetic  thought,  and  in 
his  sublime  flights  he  revels  as  much  witli  the  flowers  as  he  does  with 
thunderbolts.  His  sarcasm  is  withering,  and  frequently  even  more 
sharply  pointed  by  the  adding  of  an  original  humor.  His  denun-, 
ciation  is  scornful  and  overwhelming.  But  the  pervading  elements 
of  his  sermons  are  a  great  humanity,  love  for  his  fellow-creatures,  and 
devotion  to  the  duty  to  which  he  has  been  called.  Thrilling  to  hear, 
they  are  as  beautiful  to  read.  Like  vines  bending  with  fruit  or 
flowers ;  still  these  vines,  after  all,  cling  about  sturdy  oaks. 

Dr.  Chapin's  voice  is  one  of  much  compass,  and  is  as  easily  and 
correctly  modulated  as  tunes  are  played  bj^  the  keys  of  instruments; 
it  is  smooth,  without  even  the  slightest  harshness,  and  its  sweetness 
and  fervor  are  beyond  comparison.  His  gestures  are  few,  but  of  the 
most  eflective  kind.  He  is  always  thorouglily  absorbed  in  his  theme, 
and  not  only  in  his  words,  but  manner,  is  impressively  earnest,  and 
in  some  passages  decidedly  excited.  The  concluding  portion  of  his 
sermons  are  usually  the  most  powerful  and  eloquent.  He  seems  to 
have  a  few  pages  committed  to  memory,  and  he  is  relieved  from  the 
close  attention  to  his  notes  which  is  a  characteristic  with  him.  Now 
he  rolls  out  the  burning  words  and  brilliant  thoughts — now  he  gesticu- 
lates with  startling  vehemence ;  and  now  his  impassioned  utterances 
quicken  the  blood,  or  perchance  move  to  tears. 

The  listener  is  spell-bound  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  There 
IS  no  time  of  weariness,  but  when  the  termination  comes  a  freer 
breath  is  drawn,  and  there  is  almost  a  sensation  of  pain  from  the 
fixedness  of  mind  and  the  overwrought  feelings.  You  have  been 
under  the  fascination  of  eloquence  of  the  most  movino-  description. 

86 


-REV.      E  D  W  I  X     H  .     C  H  A  P  I  X  ,     D,    D. 

All  that  tbe  voice,  tongue,  and  mind  can  do  with  language  has  been 
done.  The  power  which  sways  senates,  kindles  revolutions,  and 
starts  the  sword  fi'om  its  scabbard — the  power  of  human  eloquence — 
has  woven  one  of  its  potent  spells,  which  is  to  last  even  into  the 
life  of  to-morrow. 

By  and  by  you  see  a  person  moving  with  the  crowd  toward  the 
door.  He  is  all  smiles,  and  as  he  goes  along  shakes  hands  right  and 
left.  He  chats  pleasantly  and  constantly,  and  before  he  gets  far  is 
surrounded  by  a  talking  deputation,  embracing  both  sexes  and  all 
ages.  It  is  Dr.  Chapin.  Seemingly  unconscious  of  his  great  gifts 
and  fame— a  plain  unassuming  man — he  is  now  as  unreservedly  the 
companion  of  a  child  as  of  the  most  eminent  who  greet  him.  And 
if  in  the  gathering  there  should  be  persons  of  humble  estate,  they 
will  be  selected  for  his  especial  notice.  Presently  he  reaches  the 
street,  and,  with  a  kindly  good-night  to  some  worthy  who  per- 
sistently has  held  to  his  sleeve,  he  goes  away  from  the  scene  of  his 
matchless  oratory  and  the  altar  of  his  successful  ministrations. 

Dr.  Chapin's  character,  life,  and  religion  may  all  be  expressed  in 
one  word — love.  It  is  the  rock  upon  which  he  builds  for  the  present 
and  the  time  to  come.  Turning  with  horror  from  the  narrow  bounds 
of  bigotry — cultured  to  liberal  and  progressive  ideas — of  a  nature 
kind-hearted  and  just — professing  a  religious  faith  which  makes  no 
limit  to  the  salvation  of  man — he  has  made  his  whole  career  and 
his  ministry  an  illustration  of  liberal  sentiments,  generous  deeds, 
and  Christian  love. 

87 


REV.  JOHN  A.  M.  CHAPMAN, 

I?A^fe*TOR     OF     ST.    JOHIV'S    M:ETH0I>IST    CHUIICII, 
BKOOIiLYlV,    E.    r>. 


EV.  JOHN  A.  M.  CHAPMAN  was  born  at  Greenland, 
N.  H.,  August  21st,  1829.      His  father  was  a  farmer. 
At  fifteen  he  became  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church. 
He  prepared  for  college  at  Hampton,  N.  H.,   and  en- 
tered the  institution  at  Waterville,  Me.,  but  his  health  finally 
fliiled.  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave.     He  took  a  two  years 
theological  course  at  Concord,  K  H. 

He  commenced  preaching  in  1858,  as  a  supply,  at  Concord.  In  the 
spring  of  1854  he  joined  the  Providence  Conference,  in  which  he 
remained  until  the  summer  of  1861,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the 
New  England  Conference.  During  eight  years  and  a  half  he  was 
the  pastor  of  difterent  prominent  churches  in  the  City  of  Boston.  He 
went  first  to  the  Hanover  street,  and  subsequently  to  Tremont  street 
and  Grace  church.  He  was  appointed  to  his  j)resent  church,  attached 
to  the  New  York  East  Conference,  in  the  spring  of  1871. 

St.  John's  Methodist  Church  grew  out  of  the  South  Fifth  street 
Congregation,  and  was  organized  in  1868.  A  magnificent  church  edifice 
was  erected  on  Bedford  avenue,  at  a  total  cost  of  two  liundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  This  is  probably  the  finest  church  in  the 
denomination.  There  are  about  five  hundred  families  and  five 
hundi-ed  members.  The  ofiicers,  teachers,  and  pupils  of  the  Sunday 
School  number  eleven  hundred.  A  Mission  Sunday  School  is  con- 
ducted in  Taylor  street,  where  there  are  also  held  religious  meet- 
ings. 

There  is  certainly  a  great  change  taking  place  in  the  Methodist 
church.  In  the  cities,  especially,  it  is  losing  much  of  its  primitive 
character.  The  abandonment  of  the  old  time  plain  structures,  the 
free  pew  system,  of  class-meetings,  and  the  excitable  mode  of  pub- 
lic worship,  with  the  introduction  of  an  educated  clergy,  mark  its 
assimilation   in  a  greater  degree  than  ever   before   to  the  other 


REV.     JOHN     A.      M,      CHAPMAN. 

Protestant  denominations.  Its  free  and  popular  faith  will  remain 
through  all  human  time,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Methodist 
body  of  to-daj  is  an  organization  essentially  modified  in  many  of 
its  former  peculiar  features.  The  good  fathers  of  the  church  would 
stand  astounded,  though  probably  not  without  pride,  in  beholding 
the  splendid  edifice  which  their  modern  brethren  have  built  for 
themselves  on  Bedford  avenue.  They  would  likewise  marvel  at  the 
learning  and  dignity  which  adorn  its  pulpit  at  all  times.  But  these 
innovations  are  only  signs  of  higher  refinement  and  prosperity,  and 
not,  by  any  means,  of  an  altered  or  corrupted  faith.  In  this  age, 
change  in  almost  everything  seems  certain  and  rapid,  and  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  Methodist  church,  in  the  particulars  named,  is  a  strik- 
ing example  of  the.fact. 

Mr.  Chapman  is  of  the  medium  height,  slender,  and  erect.  His 
head  and  face  show  him  to  be  an  intellectual  man.  His  manners  are 
easy  and  courteous  with  all  persons.  In  his  disposition  he  is  rather 
retiring  and  modest,  seeking  to  make  neither  noise  nor  display.  But 
hidden  beneath  all  this  is  the  strong  stern  man  when  duty  is  to  be 
done,  and  when  principles  are  to  be  maintained ;  then  his  will  be- 
comes inflexible  and  his  courage  dauntless.  Consequently,  his  life 
has  exhibited  the  most  lovely  of  the  Christian  graces,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  j^ower  of  moral  and  religious  principles. 

He  preaches  a  most  efiective  sermon.  In  the  first  j^lace,  he  is  a 
scholarly  man,  looking  learnedly  and  deeply  into  all  his  subjects; 
and  in  the  second,  he  is  a  devout  one,  feeling  his  responsibility  as  a 
preacher  of  the  Word,  and  tenderly  concerned  for  the  salvation  of 
sinners.  He  preaches  from  head  and  heait,  and  he  appeals  to  the  in- 
fluence of  both  in  his  hearers.  His  sermons  are  thoroughly  studied, 
but  he  speaks  in  the  pulpit  entirely  without  notes.  His  language 
has  the  freshness  of  original  thought  and  the  glow  of  a  fervent  elo- 
quence. Able  to  hold  his  place  among  the  most  gifted  preachers  of 
his  day,  he  never  swerves  from  either  faith  or  propriety,  or  forgets 
that  his  chief  duty,  as  well  as  honor,  are  to  be  found  in  following  in 
the  meek  footsteps  of  the  Master. 

8!) 


IIEV.  GEORGE  B.  CHEEVER,   D.  D., 

IVETV    YORK. 


i;T^S  EV.  DE.  GEORGE  B.  CHEEYER  was  born  at  Hallo- 
well,  Maine,  in  1807.  He  was  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College  in  1825,  and  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary 
in  1830,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Howard  Street 
Congregational  Church  at  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1832.  His 
contributions  in  prose  and  verse,  on  theological  and  literary 
topics,  were  published  in  the  North  American  Review  and 
Bible  Repository^  and  he  engaged  in  the  Unitarian  controversy.  In 
1855  he  published,  in  a  Salem  newspaper,  a  dream,  entitled  "  Deacon 
Giles'  Distillery."  This  publication  involved  him  in  much  trouble, 
as  Deacon  Giles  was  a  veritable  person.  A  riotous  attack  was  made 
upon  him  in  the  street,  and  he  was  tried  and  convicted  of  libel,  and 
suffered  an  imprisonment  of  thirty  days  in  jail.  During  the  follow- 
ing summer  he  resigned  his  pastoral  charge,  and,  going  abroad,  passed 
over  two  years  in  Europe  and  the  Levant.  His  travels  were  described 
in  letters  to  the  New  York  Observer.  He  returned  in  1839,  and  be- 
came pastor  of  the  Allen  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York.  He 
attracted  crowded  houses  to  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress  "  and  on  the  "  Hierarchical  Despotism,"  the  latter  being  a 
reply  to  a  discourse  by  Bishop  Hughes.  In  1843  he  engaged  in  a 
public  debate  with  J,  L.  Y.  O'Sullivan,  Esq.,  maintaining  the  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  capital  punishment.  He  went  to  Europe,  in  1841, 
as  corresponding  editor  of  the  Neio  York  Evangelist,  and,  after  his 
return  in  1845,  was  the  principal  editor.  In  the  following  year  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Puritans,  a  new  Congregational 
church,  located  on  Union  Square,  New  York.  Says  a  notice :  "  He 
is  distmguished  as  an  energetic  preacher,  and  for  the  Puritanic  appli- 
cation of  biblical  principles  to  human  conduct  and  institutions. 
Among  the  topics  which  he  has  treated  in  the  pulpit  are — intem- 
perance ;  Sabbath  breaking  by  railroad  companies  and  government 


90 


REV.     GEORGE    B.     CHEEVER,    D.  D. 

orders  ;  the  attempted  ejection  of  the  Bible  from  the  pubhc  schools  ; 
the  Mexican  war ;  the  fugitive  slave  law ;  the  Dred  Scott  decision  ; 
and  the  system  of  American  slavery.  Since  the  establishment  of  the 
New  York  Independent^  in  1848,  Dr.  Cheever  has  been  a  weekly  con- 
tributor to  it  of  religious,  literary,  critical,  and  political  articles.  His 
later  contributions  to  the  BihliotJieca  Sacra  are  of  a  more  scholarly 
and  elaborate  character."  Among  his  books  are  works  of  prose  and 
poetry,  and  his  issues  have  been  continuous  since  1828.  Of  these  may 
be  named,  "  Studies  in  Poetry ;  "  an  edition  of  the  "  Select  Works  of 
Archbishop  Leighton ;  "  "  Lectures  on  the  Pilgrim's  Progress ;  " 
"  Wanderings  of  a  Pilgrim ; "  "  Journey  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth, 
New  England,  1620,"  reprinted  from  the  original  volume  ;  "  Wind- 
ing of  the  Eiver  of  the  Water  of  Life;"  "Lectures  on  the  Life, 
Genius,  and  Sanctity  of  Cowper;"  "God  Against  Slavery,"  &c.,  &c. 

For  many  years  Dr.  Cheever  and  his  congregation  took  a  very 
prominent  part  in  the  anti-slavery  agitation,  then  going  on ;  subse- 
quently the  church  edifice,  which  was  erected  on  leased  ground,  was 
sold.  The  congregation  became  reduced  in  members,  and  have  ceased 
to  attract  attention. 

Dr.  Cheever  is  a  person  of  noticeable  appearance.  He  is  of  good 
height,  straight  and  active,  and  his  countenance  shows  him  to  be  a 
thinker  of  no  ordinary  degree.  He  has  a  liberal  quantity  of  black 
and  gray  hair  on  his  head,  and  also  wears  whiskers,  which  set  his  face 
in  a  complete  frill.     He  looks  pale,  as  if  from  close  study. 

Dr.  Cheever  is  a  very  poor  reader.  Sometimes  his  voice  dies  away 
as  if  he  was  reading  to  himself,  and  then  it  rises,  and  is  quickened  as 
if  to  make  up  for  lost  time.  But  the  delivery  of  his  sermons  is  quite 
another  thing.  He  does  not  appear  like  the  same  speaker.  Now  his 
voice  is  invariably  full  and  rich  toned,  and,  instead  of  a  carelessness 
as  to  the  force  of  words,  every  one  is  made  effective.  He  gesticulates 
very  much  with  his  right  hand,  which  is  almost  all  the  time  in  motion. 
He  is  altogether  very  limber,  and  an  attitude  often  adopted  is  to  lean 
over  the  book-board,  with  his  hands  hanging  down,  at  which  time  he 
whispers  some  ironical  and  bitter  things  with  a  confidential  air. 

The  American  pulpit  has  no  person  in  it  of  more  power  of  mind 
and  force  of  character  than  Dr.  Cheever.  He  is  an  original,  philo- 
sophical thinker,  and  has  always  shown  great  moral  courage  in  doing 
what  he  deemed  to  be  his  duty  as  a  minister  and  man. 

91 


REV.  FREDERICK  G.  CLARK,  D.  D.. 

FA.fr^'TOTl      OF       TJrlE      TOlVIPItllV^      A.VE1VUE:     PRE©- 

byterij^iv  church,  brookilyn. 


EY.  DR  FEEDERICK  G.  CLARK  was  born  at  Water- 
bury,  Conn.,  December  13tli,  1819.  He  is  the  son  of  the 
late  distinguished  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark,  a  well-known 
^^^^"^  clergyman  of  New  England,  and  a  brother  of  Hon.  Hor- 
^  ace  F.  Clark,  a  noted  member  o±  the  New  York  bar.  He  en- 
'^  tered  Williams  College,  but  was  obliged  to  leave  on  account  of 
the  failure  of  his  health.  He  spent  two  years  in  the  stud}^  of  law, 
after  which  he  passed  a  year  in  Europe.  He  subsequently  entered 
the  New  York  University,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1812.  He 
now  entered  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  of  New  York,  from 
which  institution  he  graduated  in  1845.  He  went  immediately  to 
Greemvich,  Conn.,  where  he  was  ordained.  He  preached  here  for  a 
year  and  a  half,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Presbyterian  Church 
at  Astoria,  Long  Island.  After  laboring  in  this  place  for  six  years, 
he  was  called  to  the  West  Twenty-third  Street  Presbyterian  Church, 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  Under  his  labors  an  imposing  house  of 
worship  was  erected,  and  a  vigorous  church  gathered.  Dr.  Clark 
occupied  this  pulpit  for  fifteen  years,  when  he  felt  the  need  of  change, 
and  he  accepted  a  call  in  May,  1867,  to  the  Second  Congregational 
Church  in  Greenwich,  Conn.,  the  church  in  which  he  originally 
began  his  ministry.  In  1871,  Di-.  Clark  returned  to  New  York,  and 
was  soon  engaged  in  his  professional  work  at  Brooklyn.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1872,  he  was  installed  Pastor  of  the  Tompkins  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church,  where  a  substantial  congregation  soon  gathered 
under  his  ministry. 

Dr.  Clark  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  New  York  Uni- 
versity in  1864.  He  is  the  author  of  a  memoir  entitled  "  The  Life 
Work  of  Mary  M.  Maynard,"  and  many  pubHshed  sermons. 

92 


REV.     FREDERICK     G.     CLARK.     D.  D. 

"We  take  the  following  interesting  passages  from  a  lecture  to 
young  men,  entitled  "  Self  Culture"  : 

"The  idea  of  self  is  either  full  of  danger  or  fiill  of  duty,  according  to  our  con- 
ception of  it. 

"  The  abused  or  perverted  self  is  but  an  egotism  of  idolatry  and  selfishness.  It 
is  the  ripe  fmit  of  human  depravity,  the  motive  to  every  injustice,  the  symbol  of 
all  unfairness  and  oppression.  This  self  is  its  own  god  ;  on  its  unhallowed  altar 
the  whole  world  is  not  too  much  to  burn.  "What  outrage,  what  cruelty,  what 
Heaven-provoking  crime  has  not  been  committed  under  the  low  insjoiration  of  serv- 
ing self ! 

' '  On  the  other  hand,  the  true  idea  of  self,  with  which  alone  we  wish  to  deal,  is 
quite  another  thing.  This  is  a  living  name  for  the  entire  estate  which  God  has 
given  us— God's  acres  in  man's  soul— bestowed  upon  each  other  with  this  one  con- 
dition and  charge  :  'Occupy  till  I  come.'  It  is  something  to  come  in  possession  of 
a  farm,  of  which  the  improvement  must  depend  upon  our  industry.  Around  the 
homestead  arc  spread  out  acres  upon  acres  in  extent,  meadow  and  jjasture,  marsh, 
river  and  wood.  It  is  surely  no  sinecure  to  make  the  most  of  all  these.  But  it  is 
vastly  more  to  be  put  in  charge  of  one's  own  soul,  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it !  The 
trusteeship  of  intelligence,  and  sensibility,  and  volition  of  all  the  risks  and  all  the 
hopes  of  aa  immortal  mind — this  is  incomparably  the  heaviest  of  all  commissions. 

"But  such  is  the  self  whose  care  and  culture  is  now  our  study.  It  is  that  mys- 
terious world  of  thought  and  feeling  which  is  at  once  pent  up  and  boundless.  Its 
sphere  is  within  the  chambers  of  the  brain  ;  its  outgoings,  its  visions,  accept  no 
boundaries.  I  speak  of  a  gift  which  is  no  prerogative  of  kings  or  of  scholars  ;  it 
knows  no  distinction  by  caste  ;  it  is  indifferent  to  wealth  or  povertj'.  It  is  the  com- 
mon heritage  of  man.  Like  the  unfenced  prairie,  it  touches  the  air  and  drinks  the 
dew  of  heavenly  contact,  with  nothing  to  come  between. 

"I  mean  this  conscious  portraiture  of  Deity  which  I  carry  in  my  bosom;  alas! 
how  marred  and  strangely  blm-red,  as  by  the  stroke  of  some  rude  hand,  yet  still 
the  image  of  God.  Within  the  limits  of  this  self  what  powers  I  discover  of  desire, 
of  responsibility,  of  love,  of  hate,  of  acquisition,  and  of  godlike  beneficence. 
What  uprisings  of  impulse  are  here.  What  ambitions  strike  their  roots  within  this 
bosom  !  And  how  deeply  conscious  is  this  soul  of  its  Creator's  care  and  respect ! 
How  lavish  has  He  been  in  means  of  enriching  and  cultivating  it! 

"This  self  is  a  gift  which  we  all  receive— a  domain  which  we  are  bound  to 
occupy.  To  fail  of  this  is  to  incur  the  doom  of  the  miserable  man  m  the  parable, 
who  hid  his  talent  in  the  earth:  'Cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant  into  outer  dark- 
ness. ' 

"It  is  after  this  interior  wealth  of  character  that  St.  Paul  is  reaching,  when  he 
charges  his  son  Timothy  to  'stir  up  the  gift  of  God  which  is  in  him.'  He  is  feel- 
ing for  the  sinews  of  strength  in  the  soul  of  his  young  discijile.  He  reminds  him 
of  his  pious  ancestry.  He  seeks  to  make  him  conscious  of  spiritual  endowments 
which  he  receives  by  the  grace  of  God  in  connection  with  his  ordination.  These 
gifts  and  endowments  he  is  to  stir  up.  The  figure  is  that  of  fire  whose  dull  embers 
are  to  be  stirred  together  and  blown  into  a  tiame.  It  is  as  if  he  had  said,  '  God 
has  done  much  for  you,  son  Timothy;  search  for  that  interior  wealth  of  grace  and 
mental  gifts  which  He  has  hidden  in  your  bosom;  cultivate  these;  force  them  up  to 
their  highest  development,  and  so  make  the  most  of  yourself,  for  your  race,  and  for 
your  divine  Master.' 


REV.      FREDERICK     G.     CLARK,     D.  D. 

"  There  is  a  spleudid  gift  of  God  in  every  rational  soul,  however  humble  it  may 
be.  This  gilt  includes  all  our  endowmsnts,  whether  spiritual  or  intellectual— what- 
ever we  find  ourselves  possessed  of,  which  may  be  used  for  man's  good  or  God's 
glory.  This  gift,  this  power  of  usefulness,  this  possibility  of  development,  how- 
ever latent  at  present,  is  one  talent  which  we  must  improve,  and  at  last  return  with 
usury. " 

Dr.  Clark  is  about  the  average  lieight,  and  well  proportioned.  He 
looks  younger  than  his  years,  and  gives,  in  every  respect,  full  evi- 
dence of  henig  a  man  of  clear-sightedness  and  great  vigor  of  pur- 
pose. His  head  is  not  large,  but  it  has  prominent,  intellectual  char- 
acteristics, and  his  face  is  particularly  beaming  with  intelligence  and 
amiability.  His  manners  are  courteous,  and  his  blandness  at  once 
removes  all  restraints,  even  with  the  utmost  stranger.  He  talks 
quietly,  generall}^  with  a  great  deal  of  cheerfulness  of  tone,  and  in  a 
manner  which  always  serves  to  interest.  Yon  find  that  while  he  is 
a  person  greatly  absorbed  in  his  religious  duties,  he  is  likewise 
a  critical  observer  in  the  world,  and  has  the  most  sound  and  practical 
opinions  on  all  current  subjects.  Close  attachments  are  formed 
with  him,  for  he  is  a  man  of  a  noble,  pious,  consistent  life,  and  one 
whose  conversation  and  deportment  are  not  less  fascinating  than 
useful. 

Dr.  Clark  is  equally  acceptable  as  a  preacher.  There  is  nothing 
sensational  in  his  style ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  leans  to  the  most 
rigid  models  of  pulpit  propriety  to  be  found  in  the  earlier  and 
stricter  periods  of  the  Church.  With  him  everything  is  done 
"  decently  and  in  order,"  with  a  profound  appreciation  of  the  time, 
place,  and  his  duties,  and  with  a  purpose  single  to  the  expounding 
of  the  Gospel.  His  sermons  are  written  with  clearness  and  pointed- 
ness,  and  with  much  scholarly  finish  ;  but  there  is  not  a  word  which 
is  given  for  a  display  of  rhetoric  or  of  oratory.  He  speaks  well, 
with  ease,  and  graceful  and  timely  gestures ;  but  this,  too,  is  done 
with  solemnity,  mingled  with  an  ever  apparent  personal  modesty. 
His  mode  of  discussing  a  subject  always  shows  matured  and  original 
thought. 

Dr.  Clark  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  substantial  men  in  the 
Presbyterian  pulpit.  His  gifted  and  devout  mind,  and  clear  com- 
mon sense,  give  him  great  power  as  a  preacher ;  and  his  extended 
career  has  added  to  these  an  experience  which  is  fruitful  of  good  to 
all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact 


REY.  MTHANIEL  W.  CONKLING, 

PASTOR     OF    KXJTOEHS     P  KESB  YTERI  A.1V 
CHUKCH. 


EV.  NATHANIEL  W.  CONKLING  was  born  in  Coshoc 
ton  county,  Ohio,  December  21st,  1835.     He  is  the  son 
of  tlie  Eev.  Nathaniel  Conkling,  an  Old  School   Presbj- 
^,^^^  terian  clergyman,  well  known  in  New  Jersey  and  Ohio, 

"^  and  his  early  studies  were  in  those  States.  He  was  graduated 
•dQ  at  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  at  Princeton,  and  in  theology  at 
the  "Western  Theological  Seminar}^,  at  Alleghany,  Penn.  In  the 
autumn  of  1861,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as  the  pastor  of  the 
Scotch  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia,  were  he  remained  a  year 
and  a  half,  and  then  went  to  the  Arch  Street  Presbyterian  Church, 
in  the  same  city,  where  he  officiated  for  five  years.  He  next  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  Rutgers  Presbyterian  Church,  corner  of  Madison 
avenue  and  Twenty-ninth  streeet,  New  York,  where  he  was  installed 
on  the  first  Sunday  in  February,  1868. 

The  j)resent  Eutgers  Church  is  a  union  of  the  former  Rutgers 
street  Church  and  the  Madison  avenue  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
Rutgers  street  Church  was  founded  in  1798,  being  the  third  Presby- 
terian congregation  of  New  York,  and  with  the  Wall  street,  (Dr. 
Phillips,)  and  the  Brick  church,  (Dr.  Spring,)  formed  the  three  colle- 
giate Presbyterian  churches  of  the  city.  These  churches  became  in- 
dependent in  1809.  The  pastors  of  the  Rutgers  street  Church  were 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Milledoler,  Rev.  Dr.  McClellan,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Mc- 
Cauley,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Krebs.  The  ground  on  which  the  first  edifice 
of  the  Rutgers  congregation  was  erected  was  a  gift  to  them  by  the 
late  Henry  Rutgers.  In  1841  a  new  church  edifice  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  forty  thousand  dollai's,  which  in  its  day  was  regarded  as  one 
of  the  finest  buildings  in  New  York.  The  church,  with  its  organ 
and  fixtures,  and  the  parsonage,  were  sold  to  the  Methodists  for  an 
amount  much  less  than  theii-  value,  who  sold  them  to  the  Catholics 

for  the  sum  of  forty-six  thousand  dollars*     It  is  now  known  as  the 

93 


EEV.     NATHANIEL     W.     CONKLING. 

ohm-cli  of  Sr.  Theresa,  and  is  attended  by  a  very  numerous  congrega 
tion. 

Dr.  Krebs  received  a  call  to  the  Madison  avenue  congregation, 
wliich  he  declined.  An  engagement  was  made,  however,  by  which 
the  Rutgers  street  congi-egation  united  with  the  Madison  avenue  in 
the  occupancy  of  the  church  of  tlie  latter.  This  is  the  building 
which  was  erected  by  Mr.  James  Lenox,  and  is  held  by  the  trustees 
for  the  free  use  of  a  congregation  of  the  Presbyterian  fiiith.  Both 
congregations  preserved  their  own  organization,  and  Dr.  Krebs  held 
the  united  pastorship.  He  was  in  ill-health  for  several  years,  and  at 
length  died  from  softening  of  the  brain.  Since  that  time  the  two 
congregations  have  adopted  the  title  of  the  Rutgers  P]'esbyterian 
Church,  and  Mr.  Conkling  was  called  to  the  pastorship.  Under  the 
charge  of  Mr.  Coukling  the  church  is  again  growing  in  numbers,  and 
promises  to  have  in  the  future  some  of  the  importance  and  influence 
which  belonged  to  the  Rutgers  street  congregation  in  former  days. 
In  1873  the  church  building  was  enlarged  and  improved. 

Mr.  Conkling  is  of  the  medium  height  and  well-built.  His  head 
is  in  excellent  proportion  to  his  body,  and  the  features  are  regular, 
with  not  much  that  is  specially  striking  about  them.  In  fact,  his 
head  and  face  are  those  ordinarily  seen  in  most  intelligent  men, 
and  there  is  nothing  in  them  to  denote  that  he  has  any  special  quali- 
fications beyond  this.  The  brow  is  not  high,  but  it  is  quite  bro'id ; 
the  eyes  are  small  and  deep-set ;  the  nose  and  mouth  are  well 
molded,  and  the  expression  of  the  whole  is  that  of  an  amiable,  good 
man.  His  manners  are  courteous  and  agreeable.  He  is  easy  and 
graceful  in  all  his  movements,  and  has  a  ready  and  cheerful  flow  of 
conversation.  Withal  there  is  a  great  deal  of  genuine  modesty  about 
his  deportment,  which,  while  it  is  not  like  diffidence,  shows  that  he 
has  great  regard  for  clerical  dignity  and  propriety.  He  is  a  lover  of 
study,  and  has  deep  religious  convictions.  His  mental  perceptions 
are  very  clear  and  comprehensive,  and  his  investigations  are  always 
of  the  most  thorough  character.  Hence  his  mind  is  richly  stored, 
and  is  particularly  profound  on  the  topics  which  most  relate  to  his 
religious  doctrines.  He  is  not  one  to  make  any  undue  display  of 
learning,  and,  in  truth,  he  is  rather  inclined  to  be  secretive  of  it 
from  very  fear  of  being  thought  pedantic.  When  it  is  called  for, 
however,  in  the  discharge  of  his  clerical  functions,  he  is  found  to  be 
one  of  the  safest  reasoners  in  his  church.  At  the  same  time  his 
views  have  a  newness  and  originality  which  is  quite  captivating, 

96 


KEY.     NATHANIEL     W,     CONKLING. 

Such  a  teacher  and  preacher  as  this  must  make  his  mark  wherever 
he  goes.  And  it  has  been  a  circumstance  often  commented  upon, 
that  the  congregations  oyer  which  Mr.  ConkHng  has  presided  were 
made,  by  his  style  of  preaching  and  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  a 
thinking  and  clear- headed  body  of  believers.  They  were  not  found 
groping  in  the  dark  in  regard  to  their  doctrines,  nor  were  they  to  be 
changed  by  any  new  notions  of  the  hour.  Looking  to  him  for 
intellectual  light  they  were  sure  to  receive  it;  and  following  his 
teachings,  they  were  not  only  faithful  to  religious  principles,  but 
understood  them  in  their  origin  and  application. 

Mr.  Conkling  has  very  agreeable  manners  in  the  pulpit.  He  is 
composed  and  self-possessed,  but  without  the  slightest  sign  of  any- 
thing that  is  consequential.  He  is  gifted  and  earnest  in  prayer,  reads 
the  psalms  and  hymns  with  distinctness  and  fervor,  and  preaches  his 
sermon  with  dignity  and  grace  of  deportment,  and  in  a  fluent  argu- 
mentative style  of  address.  Tliere  is  nothing  in  either  manners  or 
matter  to  cause  special  remark  as  being  singular  and  personal  to 
himself,  but  there  is  everything  to  interest  and  inform  the  serious- 
minded  hearer.  He  treats  religious  subjects  from  a  purely  spiritual 
standpoint,  and  he  makes  the  services  of  the  house  of  God  serious 
and  solemnly  impressive.  There  is  no  parade  of  his  own  views,  no 
assumption  of  personal  authorit}'  in  announcing  the  religious  and  the 
moral  law,  and  no  effort  to  so  impress  the  auditor  that  the  after  re- 
membrance will  be  more  of  the  actions  and  utterances  of  the  preacher 
rather  than  simply  the  memory  of  a  profitable  season  of  public  wor- 
ship. On  the  contrary  he  shrinks  away,  and  seems  humble  and  as 
nothing  in  the  presence  of  his  responsibilities  as  a  teacher  of  the 
Scriptures  and  a  religious  guide  for  men.  His  confidence  comes 
from  the  truths  which  he  utters,  and  his  fluency  is  the  ardor  of  faith. 
His  voice  has  pleasant  modulations,  and  in  passages  of  an  emotional 
character  becomes  very  tender  and  touching.  His  gestures  are  all 
well  timed  and  expressive.  From  these  characteristics  it  is  to  be 
seen  that  Mr.  Conkling  is  one  of  the  best  models  of  the  dignified, 
consistent  clergyman  of  the  day.  In  all  his  walks,  and  in  his  public 
ministrations,  he  looks  strictly  to  the  honor  and  dignity  of  his  calling, 
and  to  the  persistent  discharge  of  his  duties  in  the  manner  which  will 
best  accomplish  fruits  of  immortal  souls.  The  display  of  personal 
talents,  and  an  ambitious  seeking  of  positions  and  emoluments,  give 
place  to  a  studious  private  life  and  an  humble  public  one 

97 


REV.  THOMAS  K.  CONRAD,  D.  D. 


ASSi^IST^lVT    llECTOK    OF    THE    CHURCH   OF    THE 
H  EiSLVEIVLY  REST  ( EITSCOP^E ),    ]VEW  YORK. 


^^EY.  DR.  THOMAS  K  CONRAD  was  born  in  the  city 
W  of  Philadelphia,  January  19th,  1836.  He  is  a  nephew  of 
Judge  Conrad,  a  distinguished  man  in  law  and  literature. 
His  early  academic  studies  were  pursued  in  his  native 
place,  and  he  graduated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in 
1855.  Having  determined  to  prepare  for  the  Episcopal  minis- 
try, lie  entered  upon  a  course  of  private  theological  study  with  the 
late  Bishoja  Alonzo  Potter,  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  made  deacon 
May  21:th,  1857,  at  St.  Philip's  Church,  Philadelphia,  by  Bishop 
Potter,  and  priest  January  19th,  1860,  at  St.  Mark's  Church,  Phila- 
delphia, by  the  same  bishop.  A  few  months  after  his  admission  to 
deacon's  orders,  he  commenced  to  officiate  as  rector  of  the  Church 
of  All  Saints,  Philadelphia.  This  was  November  1st,  1857,  and 
he  continued  with  the  parish  until  1859.  At  this  latter  j)eriod  his 
attention  had  been  turned  to  the  want  of  another  Episcopal  church 
in  Germantown,  and  during  1859  his  efforts  resulted  in  the  erection 
of  Calvary  Church  in  that  place.  He  was  called  as  the  rector,  and 
thus  remained  for  about  tour  years,  until  1863.  He  next  received 
a  call  to  St  John's  Church,  Clifton,  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.,  a  wealthy 
and  important  parish,  where  he  officiated  with  great  zeal  for  nearly 
four  years.  After  the  resignation  of  this  rectorship,  he  did  not  accept 
another  immediately,  but  employed  himself  in  giving  occasional  as- 
sistance to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  S.  Howland,  at  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Apostles,  Ninth  Avenue,  New  York. 

This  pastoral  association  led  to  an  important  religious  movement 
in  another  field.  Dr.  Conrad  very  much  desired  to  go  into  one  of 
the  fine  up-town  neighborhoods  and  estal^lish  a  new  Episcopal  church. 
In  this  purpose  he  was  very  much  encouraged  by  Dr.  Howland,  who 
also  expressed  a  desire  to  aid  such  an  undertaking  with  pecuniary 

98 


'L^L^ 


EEV      THOMAS     K.     CONRAD,     D.  D. 

means  of  his  own.  As  an  experiment,  a  chapel-service  was  com- 
menced at  Rutgers  Female  College,  in  Fifth  avenue,  both  Dr.  How- 
land  and  Dr.  Conrad  officiating.  These  services  were  a  signal  suc- 
cess. Yeiy  soon  a  new  parish,  under  the  name  of  the  Church  of 
the  Heavenly  Rest,  was  organized,  and  steps  taken  for  the  erection 
of  an  edifice  for  public  worship.  The  parish  was  organized  May 
18th,  1868,  and  is  already  large  in  the  numbers,  and  influential  in 
the  character  of  its  membei's.  Dr.  Howland  is  tlie  senior  rector,  and 
Dr.  Conrad  is  assistant,  having  the  principal  charge. 

Arrangements  were  made  to  build  the  church  in  connection  with 
other  elegant  and  costly  improvements,  which  were  to  be  carried  out 
for  Dr.  Howland  on  property  belonging  to  him  on  Fifth  avenue  and 
Forty-fifth  street.  The  visitor  to  this  magnificent  portion  of  the 
city  will  obsei"ve  that  the  main  church  building  has  been  erected  in 
the  rear  of  several  lots,  while  the  larger  half  of  the  front  portion  on 
Fifth  avenue,  and  on  Forty-fifth  street  is  occupied  by  first-class  resi- 
dences. A  space  on  Fifth  avenue  between  the  houses,  is  occupied 
by  the  front  of  the  church,  which  is  not  of  the  width  of  the  main 
structure,  but  is  uniform  with  the  other  buildings,  and  has  a  very 
tasteful  architectural  effect.  Altogether  the  design,  though  new  and 
(jf  the  most  practical  character,  is  harmonious  and  elegant,  and  does 
not  in  any  manner  detract  from  the  merits  of  the  church  as  an  im- 
posing public  building.  jSTothing  has  been  lost  in  the  necessary 
dimensions,  which  are  about  one  hundred  feet  in  width,  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty -five  in  length,  and,  as  completed,  the  building 
will  seat  about  one  thousand  people.  Tlie  interior  is  very  beautiful. 
It  is  elaborate  and  costly,  and  shows  the  highest  architectural  and 
artistic  taste.  The  pews  and  other  fittings  are  in  solid  wood,  and 
the  chancel  has  one  of  the  most  magnificent  pieces  of  wood- 
carving  to  be  seen  in  the  United  States.  All  the  pillara  are  of 
polished  variegated  marble,  and  very  expensive.  The  stained  win- 
dows, and  the  painting  of  the  walls  and  arches,  show  beautiful  ar- 
tistic effects.  The  reading  desk  is  a  pedestal  with  a  spread  eagle  in 
brass,  and  the  pulpit  is  a  fine  specimen  of  workmanship.  The  font 
is  richly  sculptured,  and  was  presented  by  some  of  Dr.  Conrad's 
friends  in  St  John's  parish,  Staten  Island.  This  interior,  taken  as 
a  whole  or  in  detail,  will  bear  the  most  critical  examination.  Turn 
where  you  will  you  are  deeply  impressed  with  its  taste  and  beauty, 
and  entire  harmony  with  the  sacred  character  of  the  edifice.  The 
expenditure  on  this  property  amounts  to  more  than  two  hundred 


REV.     THOMAS     K.     CONRAD,     D.  D. 

thousand  dollars.  The  first  public  services  were  held  in  the  new 
building  in  February,  1869,  and  regular  services  are  now  held  twice 
each  Sabbath. 

Dr.  Conrad  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.,  from  Pennsylvania 
College  at  Gettysburg  in  1868.  He  has  published  various  occa- 
sional sermons  by  request 

He  is  tall,  well-proportioned,  and  erect.  His  head  is  large,  and 
of  an  oblong  shape,  with  a  large  face.  All  the  features  are  massive 
and  prominent,  but  they  are  as  finely  molded  as  in  a  more  delicate 
cast  of  countenance.  The  forehead  is  full,  broad,  and  high ;  the 
eyes  are  large,  oval-shaped,  and  clear;  the  nose  is  Roman,  and  the 
mouth  is  handsome  and  expressive.  It  is  an  intellectual  and  a  man- 
ly face  in  the  fullest  sense.  You  see  in  it  mental  vigor,  ambition, 
energy,  and  feeling. 

His  thoughts  and  acts  have  scope,  meaning,  and  force,  combined 
with  an  originality  and  individuality  which  are  unmistakably  his 
own.  He  is  not  a  meek,  but  a  proud  man ;  but  his  pride  is  in  a  self- 
relianc3  which  he  always  feels  and  displays;  in  an  earnestness  of 
mind  and  purpose  which  proves  itself  in  its  works,  and  in  an  ambi- 
tion which  seeks  not  less  moral  excellence,  than  it  does  personal 
exaltatioru  He  is  a  calm  reasoner  as  to  causes  and  effects,  and  as  to 
forces  and  obstacles,  and  when  he  moves  h.'  is  sharp  and  effective, 
but  it  is  calculation  and  not  impulse.  He  is  far-seeing,  determined, 
and  courageous.  His  natural  qualities  all  fit  him  for  positions  of 
responsibility,  and  to  be  a  leader  rather  than  a  follower  among  men. 

Nature  in  man  shows  its  defects  and  weaknesses.  Like  Pope, 
the  greatest  are  sometimes  the  meanest.  Brilliant  talents,  all-power- 
ful energy,  and  soaring  ambition  are  often  mingled  with  the  most 
ignoble  attributes  of  character.  The  evidence  of  genius  is  neither 
the  evidence  of  truth  nor  of  morality.  We  must  look  behind  the 
blaze  of  talents  for  tlie  true  and  noble  man.  Grive  him  all  greatness 
of  mind,  and  the  credit  of  all  success  in  life's  achievements,  and 
still  we  know  him  not.  He  must  be  brought  to  the  moral  and  man- 
hood  test,  and  he  must  stand  it,  or  he  is  like  gold  which  the  fire 
proves  to  be  dross.  Every  public  character,  and  especially  every 
minister  of  the  gospel,  should  be  brought  to  this  test  before  the 
honors  of  fame  are  awarded  to  him. 

The  gentlemanly  manners,  and  the  frank,  manly  speech  of  Dr. 
Coni-ad,  are  significant  in  this  closer  analysis  which  we  propose. 
Without  afifectation  of  courtliness  or  dignity,  he  excels  in  both;  and 

100 


EEV.     THOMAS     K.     CONRAD,     D.  D. 

while  he  is  ever  so  much  practiced  in  etiquette,  there  is  a  graceful- 
ness and  naturalness  in  it  that  prove  it  to  be  nature  and  not  acting. 
Then  his  sentiments  are  free-spoken — they  bear  the  impress  of  the 
heart,  and  ihey  reflect  the  upright  and  noble  character.  He  has  no 
disguises:  in  fact,  the  only  impulsiveness  he  has  about  him  is  in 
his  opinions.  Sensitive,  ardent,  and  fearless,  he  is  never  uncertain 
as  to  his  views ;  nor  does  he  hesitate  to  make  them  known.  But  he 
never  wounds  and  never  repels  you  even  when  he  differs  from  you. 
He  is  gentlemanly,  consistent  and  respectful  in  all  things  and  at  all 
times,  and  you  are  irresistibly  impressed  with  this  fact. 

In  the  pulpit,  you  obtain  a  clear  insight  into  his  moral  and  reli- 
gious character.  His  sermons  are  aglow  with  feeling  and  strong  in 
power  of  thought,  and  grasp  of  the  mind.  It  is  not  superficial 
feeling  or  thought,  but  it  is  the  genuine  flow  of  the  heart.  He 
knows  his  own  duty,  and  he  tells  you  yours;  hf  points  out  the 
agencies  which  make  him  bolder  and  better  for  his  own  struggle, 
and  he  inspires  you  with  his  own  desires,  hopes,  and  faith.  He 
stands  the  champion  of  his  own  church,  and  of  her  teachings  in  the 
great  matters  of  doctrine,  and  in  all  the  rules  of  morals,  and  he 
bends  the  whole  force  of  his  nature,  and  the  whole  ardor  of  his 
convictions  to  do  this  work  faithfidly  and  effectively.  He  is  keenly 
sensitive  to  failure,  and  he  is  justly  proud  of  success,  and  hence  all 
his  duties  show  thorough  sincerity  and  heartiness  of  effort.  This  is 
fnlly  apparent  in  his  sermons.  They  are  written  and  delivered  with 
care,  and  with  a  practical  view  to  satisfactory  results.  His  voice  is 
smooth  and  powerful,  and  his  manners  are  dignified  and  effective. 
With  large  resources  of  mind,  great  fixedness  and  purity  of  charac- 
ter, Dr.  Conrad  must  be  regarded,  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  other 
labors  of  the  ministry,  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  valuable 
members  of  the  clerical  profession  at  the  present  time. 

101 


REV.  SAMUEL  COOKE,  D.D. 


RECTOR    or    ST.    KARTHOLOME  \V»©    EPISCOFAIL. 
CHURCH,    r<fEW    YORlv. 


p^EV.  DR  SAMUEL  COOKE  was  born  at  Danbuiy,  Con- 
necticut, August  5th,  1815.  His  father  was  Judge  D.  B. 
rfJ^^^  Cooke,  and  his  grandfatlier,  Hon.  Joseph  P.  Cooke,  was 
xj^^M^    a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  considered 

fin  his  day  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  Connecticut. 
Judge  Cooke  was  a  strict  Presbyterian,  and  his  son  was 
seldom  allowed  to  enter  the  churches  of  other  denominations.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  the  young  man  was  sent  to  the  village  of  Walden, 
New  York,  where  his  brother  was  engaged  in  a  large  manufacturing 
business.  While  here  he  gave  evidence  of  a  decided  literary  ability, 
which  was  coupled  with  excellent  oratorical  powers.  He  spent  much 
of  bis  time  in  study,  and  repeatedly  received  invitations  to  deliver 
lectures  and  Fourth  of  July  orations  in  the  leading  towns  of  Orange 
County.  He  became  a  communicant  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and. 
having  determined  to  prepare  for  the  ministry,  in  the  year  1835  en- 
tered the  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary.  He  was  graduated  in  1838, 
and  received  calls  to  various  positions  in  the  churches,  all  of  which 
he  declined.  Shortly  after  his  ordination  as  deacon,  being  in  delicate 
health,  he  made  a  tour  through  Western  New  York.  During  this 
tiip  he  chanced  to  be  at  the  village  of  Lyons,  on  a  Sabbath,  where 
there  were  a  few  Episcopalians  but  no  church.  When  about  leaving 
the  place  for  Geneva,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  remain  and  preach, 
the  ministers  of  two  churches  having  kindly  offered  their  pulpits.  He 
preached  twice,  and  witli  great  acceptability.  A  few  days  later,  he 
was  informed  that  six  thousand  dollars  had  been  raised  towards 
buil.ling  an  Episcopal  church  in  the  village,  on  condition  that  he  ac- 
cepted the  rectorship,  and  that  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars  was 
also  subscribed.     He  felt  it  his  duty  to  accept  the  call. 

After  his  marriage  with  Miss  Emma  Walden,  daughter  of  Jacob 
T.  Walden,  formerly  of  New  York,  and  founder  of  the  village  of 


102 


5^  ^~^= 


^^ 


REV.     SAMUEL     COOKE,     D.  D. 

Walden,  he  removed  to  Lyons,  and  held  services  in  the  Court  House 
while  his  church  was  in  process  of  erection.  He  resided  in  Lyons  for 
a  period  of  five  years,  when  he  was  called  to  the  finest  church  in 
Western  New  York,  situated  at  Geneva.  The  church  built  in  Lyons 
cost  twelve  thousand  dollars,  and  the  original  number  of  communi- 
cants was  only  six  ;  but  during  the  five  years  the  debt  was  entirely 
paid,  and  the  communicants  increased  to  between  one  and  two  hun- 
dred. Soon  alter  settling  at  Geneva,  Dr.  Cooke  was  elected  one  of 
the  trustees  of  Hobart  College,  located  in  the  town. 

"  The  Great  Hand,"  says  a  statem.ent,  "  which  had  hitherto  directed 
his  eflbrts,  did  not  destine  him  long  to  remain  in  his  beautiful  western 
home.  One  Sunday,  feeling  that  he  needed  rest,  he  applied  to  several 
rectors  of  neighboring  parishes  to  exchange  duties  with  him  for  the 
day  ;  but,  strange  to  say,  he  w^as  unable  to  succeed  in  his  wish.  Every 
one  to  whom  he  applied  was  either  detained  at  home  by  ofi&cial  duties, 
or  did  not  desire  to  leave  his  church  for  that  Sunday.  Thus,  contrary 
to  his  earnest  wish,  he  was  obliged  to  remain  at  home.  Truly  '  man 
proposes,  but  God  disposes.'  That  very  day  a  committee  of  gentle- 
men attended  service  in  the  church,  and  at  its  close  tendered  him  a 
call  to  the  newly  organized  parish  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  Haven. 
Visiting  the  new  field  of  dutv  to  which  he  seemed  thus  directly  called 
by  God,  and  satisfied  that  here  was  an  opportunity  for  advancing  his 
Master's  kingdom,  after  two  years'  residence  in  Geneva,  during  which 
time  the  church  under  his  charge  had  greatly  prospered,  he  removed 
to  New  Haven." 

St.  Paul's  Church,  hitherto  a  chapel  of  Trinity  Church,  in  the 
same  city,  had  just  separated  trom  the  mother  parish,  and  organized 
as  a  distinct  body.  From  this  time  the  congregation  steadily  in- 
creased, until  St.  Paul's  took  a  position  second  to  none  in  the  diocese. 

In  1850  Dr.  Cooke  received  a  call  to  St.  Baitholomew's  Church, 
New  York  city,  which  he  accepted.  This  church  was  weighed  down 
with  a  large  debt,  but  very  soon  every  available  pew  was  taken  at 
increased  rents,  and  every  day  saw  the  parish  increasing  in  strength 
and  prosperity.  At  an  early  day  a  considerable  portion  of  the  debt 
was  paid  by  subscription  among  the  congi'egation,  and  the  church 
was  altered  and  improved  throughout.  Dr.  Cooke  received  the  de- 
gree of  A.M.  f]-om  Yale  College  while  at  New  Haven,  and,  after  his 
removal  to  New  York,  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  Columbia  College 
and  the  University  of  New  York  in  two  successive  days,  while  he 
was  booked  for  the  same  degree  at  Hobart  College. 

103 


REV.     SAMUEL     COOKE,     D.  D, 

St  Bartholomew's  parish  now  numbers  seventeen  hundred  souk  ; 
it  has  ahout  seven  hundred  regular  communicants,  and  the  congrega- 
tion is  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  charitable  of  the  citv.  Tiiere 
is  connected  with  the  ciuirch  a  school  of  one  hundred  poor  children, 
who  are  entirely  clothed  and  educated  by  the  congregation. 

Sucli,  in  brief,  are  some  of  the  results  of  the  labors  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Cooke  during  a  ministry  of  thirty-five  years.  The  fitting  crown  to 
his  life-work,  howevei-,  is  the  magnificent  new  church  edifice  recently 
erected  for  St.  Bartholomew's  congregation,  on  the  corner  of  Madison 
Avenue  and  Forty-Fourth  Street. 

St.  Bartholomew's  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  Cathedral  of 
Pisa — Lombardic  style.  The  church  covers  a  lot  75  Iront  by  145 
feet  in  length.  There  is  one  grand  or  central  entrance,  which  is  or- 
namented with  richly  carved  caps  to  columns  of  Aberdeen  and  Peter- 
head (Scotland)  granite,  with  bas  relief  in  tympanums  of  the  door, 
surmounted  by  a  garbelle  carved  cross.  The  carving  is  done  in  Ohio 
freestone.  There  are  two  subordinate  doors  of  a  more  modified  de- 
sign— one  in  the  tower  and  one  south  of  the  vestibule.  The  height 
of  the  front  from  sidewalk  to  top  of  main  gable  and  tower,  which  is 
on  the  corner  of  Madison  Avenue  and  Forty-Fourth  Street,  including 
large  iron  cross,  is  200  feet.  The  extreme  length  of  the  interior  of 
the  church  is  129  feet,  by  71  feet  in  width.  It  is  divided  into  three 
aisles^ — one  centre  and  two  side.  The  centre  is  43  feet  wide  by  59 
feet  high ;  the  side  aisles  are  each  14  feet  wide  and  27  feet  high. 
They  are  divided  by  seven  polished  Scotch  granite  columns,  sur- 
mounted by  an  arcade,  open  triporium,  and  clere-story.  The  ceiling 
is  grained,  and  the  whole  interior  decorated  in  polychrome.  The 
side  walls  are  divided  into  seven  bays,  each  containing  a  stained-glass 
window.  The  rear  gable  is  pierced  with  a  window  of  three  bays,  and 
rich  designs  over  the  chancel.  The  chancel  has  a  costly  and 
chastely  decorated  screen,  extending  the  whole  width  behind  the 
altar.  On  each  side  are  the  vestry  and  retiring-rooms.  The  organ 
is  placed  in  the  gallery  over  the  front  vestibule.  In  the  side  aisles 
and  chancel  memorial  windows  are  famished  by  members  of  the  con- 
gregation. The  heat  and  ventilation  of  the  church  are  furnished  by 
steam  fi-om  boilers  placed  under  the  vestry  and  in  cellars.  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's cost  about  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  seats  1000 
persons. 

The  lot  belonging  to  the  church  is  100  feet  front ;  and  as  the 
church  occupies  only  75  feet  there  remain  25  feet  fi'ont,  upon  which 

a  parsonage  and  school  have  been  built     The  rectory  fronts  on 

104  -^ 


REV.     SAMUEL     COOKE,     D.  D. 

Madison  Avenue,  and  consists  of  four  stones.  It  is  in  harmony  of 
design  and  material  with  the  church.  The  scliool  building  is  of  two 
stories,  28  feet  by  48,  and  both  buildings  connect  directly  with  the 
interior  of  the  church.  The  church  was  completed  and  opened  for 
divme  services  in  the  latter  part  of  1872. 

Dr.  Cooke  is  of  the  medium  height  and  of  full  person.  His  ap- 
pearance is  clerical,  and  his  manners  are  reserved  and  dignified.  He 
has  a  round,  bald  head,  of  much  intellectuality,  and  his  face  is  thor- 
oughly expressive  of  a  benevolent,  upright,  and  Chi-istian  man.  Like 
most  Episcopal  clergymen,  he  seems  altogether  absorbed  in  his  pro- 
fessional character.  He  is  not  disposed  to  walk  an  inch  from  the 
well-understood  line  of  clerical  propriety,  or  to  undertake  any  labor 
but  that  pertaining  to  the  upholding  of  religion.  He  has  neither  a 
morbid  hankering  for  more  exciting  fields  of  effort,  nor  does  he  sigh 
for  secular  notoriety  in  the  room  of  mere  church  renown.  Full  of 
energy,  and  fortunate  in  pushing  forward  all  enterprises  with,  which 
he  connects  himself,  still  for  strictly  worldly  affairs  he  lacks  both  in- 
clination and  heart  A  successful  ministry  and  advancement  as  a 
churchman  form  the  scope  of  his  ambition,  and  to  his  view  are  ample 
reward  for  the  self-denying  toil  of  the  longest  life.  He  is  altogether 
too  conscientious  and  too  high-toned  in  his  standard  of  morals  to 
sacrifice  duty  to  gain,  or  the  triumphs  of  tbe  ministry  for  the  admi- 
ration of  the  world.  An  earnest  man,  a  faithful,  humble  Christian, 
a  talented  and  eloquent  preacher,  he  has  secured  a  character  which 
serves  as  a  light  to  his  generation,  and  won  a  name  long  to  be  cher- 
ished in  the  annals  of  the  church.  Tested  in  many  trials,  unwearied 
in  well  doing,  constant  to  every  principle,  and  faithful  to  every  friend, 
he  has  an  undisputed  title  to  the  praise  which  men  award  him. 

His  sermons  are  smoothly  written,  and  always  eloquent  arguments. 
He  reasons  vigorously,  and  in  a  mode  of  progression  which  carries 
conviction  at  every  step.  His  delivery  is  fluent,  and  his  voice  is 
clear  and  mellow.  Using  but  few  gestures,  he  addresses  himself 
calmly  and  fixedly  to  his  subject.  The  entire  absence  of  vain  dis- 
play, the  completeness  of  the  discussion,  and  the  evident  sinceiity  of 
the  speaker,  arrest  undivided  attention,  and  there  are  few  who  preacli 
a  more  popular  discourse. 

Dr.  Cooke  ranks  with  the  ablest  of  the  Episcopalian  clergy.  Cer- 
tainly none  of  them  have  had  a  more  successful  or  honorable  career. 
Greatly  beloved  by  his  congregation,  and  highly  appreci'ited  by  his 
professional  brethren,  he  may  well  enjoy  the  contentment  of  the  just 

105 


REV.  JOHN  E.  COOKMAN,  A.  M., 

L^VTE     I»A.!SiTOH     OF     THE     IVTETHOmST     FREE 
TABERIVACEE,    IVETV     'S'ORK:. 


EY.  JOHN  E.  COOKMAN  was  born  at  Carlisle,  Pennsyl- 
vania, June  8th,  1836.  His  early  studies  were  in  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  was  graduated  at  the  High  School  in 
1854.  He  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  at  this  institution 
1857.  His  theological  studies  were  at  a  small  seminary 
in  New  Hampshire,  which  has  recently  been  removed  to  Bos- 
ton, and  is  now  known  as  the  Boston  Theological  Seminary.  Prior 
to  1861  he  preached  under  the  direction  of  the  Presiding  Elder 
of  the  New  Jersey  Conference  at  a  church  in  New  Brunswick. 
In  1861  he  was  received  into  the  New  York  Conference,  and  sta 
tioned  at  Lenox,  Massachusetts,  where  he  remained  two  years.  His 
ministry  at  this  place  was  marked  by  an  extensive  revival.  He 
was  next  appointed  to  the  Methodist  Church  in  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-fifth  street,  Harlem,  where  he  officiated  for  two  years.  After 
this  he  went  to  Washington  Street  Church  in  Poughkeepsie,  where 
his  term  of  service  was  prolonged  through  three  years.  Here  also 
a  very  extraordinary  revival  took  place,  during  which  over  three 
hundred  persons  experienced  religion.  In  April,  1868,  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Bedford  Street  Church,  New  York,  and  subsequently 
reappointed  to  the  same  church.  He  next  went  to  Trinity  Method- 
ist  Church,  now  known  as  the  Free  Tabernacle  of  the  Methodist 
Church  in  Thirty-fourth  street,  where  he  remained  the  pastor  until 
the  spring  of  1874. 

Mr.  Cookman  is  of  the  average  height,  and  well-proportioned. 
His  head  is  round,  with  regular,  intelligent  features.  He  is  youth- 
ful in  appearance,  and  full  of  vigor  and  activity.  His  n)anners  are 
courteous  and  extremely  prepossessing.  He  is  a  man  devoid  of 
everything  like  self-sufficiency.  It  is  undoubtedly  his  effort  to  appear 
exactly  as  he  is,  without  any  of  the  restraints  which  ministerial  dig- 
nity imposes.     He  is  circumspect  enough  to  keep  within  the  bounds 

106 


REV.    JOHN    E.    COOKMAN,    A.  M. 

of  a  sensible  propriety,  but  beyond  this  he  is  extremely  free  and 
social  with  all  persons.  You  find  him  one  of  those  honest,  frank, 
and  candid  men  in  both  speech  and  manners,  who  at  once  win  youi- 
regard.  If  you  have  known  him  a  day  or  his  lifetime  it  is  all  the  same 
with  him,  for  he  appears  to  you  with  the  same  characteristics.  He 
is  of  an  entirely  natural  and  simple  nature,  and  such  natui-es  are  the 
truest  to  friendship,  and  always  companionable.  Cheerful,  warm, 
and  sympathetic,  they  show  the  human  heart  in  its  best,  though  it 
may  not  be  in  its  most  striking  phases  of  action.  The  bitterness,  enyj, 
selfishness,  and  vanity,  that  loom  up  in  the  character  which  has 
more  of  the  original  and  demonstrative  peculiarities,  and  which  men 
are  wont  to  admire  and  imitate,  have  no  claim  or  part  in  this  other 
that  we  are  describing.  It  may  be  passive  and  negative,  it  may  be 
without  especial  brilliancy  or  force,  but  yet  it  is  supremely  beautiful 
and  noble  in  iti  high  merit  of  truth,  tenderness,  and  love.  Such  is 
the  character  of  Mr.  Cookman,  as  it  is  found  under  all  circumstan- 
ces. He  is  a  plain,  honest,  fair  man.  There  is  nothing  studied, 
nothing  artificial,  and  nothing  assumed  about  him.  He  is  real 
and  true.  He  may  not  have  the  glitter  of  the  diamond,  but  he  has 
the  pure  gold  of  manly  character. 

As  a  preacher  his  power  is  in  his  emotional  style.  He  preaches 
to  the  heart.  This  member  of  the  human  organization  is  the  only 
citadel  of  sin  that  he  cares  anything  about  in  his  assaults  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Once  in  possession  of  it,  he  main- 
tains that  he  can  dictate  his  terms  of  submission  to  the  mind. 

Methodism  holds  strongly  to  this  kind  of  preaching,  while  the 
Presbyterian,  and  some  of  the  other  denominations,  have  always 
doubted  its  lasting  effects,  though  never  its  primary  success.  The 
Methodist  preacher  looks  at  the  man  or  woman  as  a  creature  of  emo- 
tions, sympathies,  affections,  sorrows,  and  joys.  The  fool  may  feel 
all  these  just  as  acutely,  and  perhaps  more  keenly,  than  the  most 
learned  person  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  All  mankind  have  the 
weakness  of  hearts,  while  it  is  the  few  who  have  the  strength  which 
comes  from  mind.  Hence  it  is  clear  that  a  great  deal  of  pro- 
found preaching  is  thrown  away,  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  there  is 
not  one  single  word  addressed  to  the  heart  which  is  lost  in  its  effects. 
Eeligion  is  after  all  more  of  an  emotion  than  a  conviction,  for  it  is 
inborn  in  the  human  soul.  The  Indian  who  has  never  heard  of  a 
God  or  the  teachings  of  revelation,  is  touched,  subdued,  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Great  Spirit  of  which  nature  alone  has  told  him.     Man 

107 


REV.    JOHN    E.     COOKMAN,    A.M. 

everywlicre,  no  matter  how  ignorant  or  debased,  worships  something 
from  impulses  which  spring  from  the  heart.  When  the  being  is 
educated  or  improved,  and  the  mind  comes  into  plav,  different  doc- 
trines are  accepted  or  rejected,  but  the  act  of  devotion  and  worship 
is  no  moi-e  sincere  than  when  it  was  done  in  ignorance  and  hea- 
thenism. 

The  Methodist  church  has  its  doctrines,  and  is  very  tenacious  of 
them  too.  But  its  first  aim  is  to  convert,  not  to  Methodism,  but  to 
God.  It  beats  with  raining  tears,  with  Christian  love  and  persua- 
sion, upon  the  stony  heart,  and  it  leads  in  the  path  trod  by  a  sorrow- 
ing, forlorn  Eedeemer,  until  the  stubbora  knee  bends  in  penitence 
and  prayer.  It  goes  with  its  appeal  to  the  torn  and  tender  heart, 
and  when  this  has  been  touched,  awakened,  and  conquered,  it  is 
ready  to  impart  the  lessons  which  are  to  be  addressed  more  particu- 
larly to  the  mind. 

Mr.  Cookman  is  a  revivalist.  He  looks  upon  a  ministry  as  bar- 
ren and  unprofitable  without  these  awakenings.  A  convert  here 
and  there,  a  heart  touched,  but  hundreds  of* souls  sleeping  uncon- 
scious in  sin,  is  a  condition  of  things  which  he  views  with  positive 
terror.  Consequently  he  is  always  at  work,  and  Satan  finds  no  rest 
within  his  pastorate.  Young  himself,  full  of  emotion  and  tenderness, 
he  shows  a  consistency,  kindness,  and  good  will  in  his  efforts,  which 
it  is  difl&cult  for  the  young  or  the  old  to  resist.  He  comes  with  no 
frowns  or  rebukes,  with  no  self-sufl&ciency  in  his  own  grace,  but  he 
comes  as  a  brother,  feeling  for  every  woe,  and  a  messenger  of  peace 
and  joy.  Eloquent,  nay,  almost  inspired  with  a  power  and  zeal 
from  on  high,  he  rouses  up  the  dormant  feelings  of  his  hearers,  and 
plays  upon  the  heart's  emotions  with  the  consummate  art  of  one 
who  has  studied  its  most  secret  depths.  His  voice  is  soft,  and  yet 
powerful,  and  his  manners  are  tender  and  yet  expressive.  There  is 
no  effort,  no  straining  for  sensation,  but  there  is  abundant  evidence 
that  every  instrumentality  of  his  thoughts  and  heart  is  being  used 
for  the  single  purpose  of  carrying  truth  to  the  hearts  of  his  congre- 
gation. He  does  not  seek  to  be  profound  in  scholarship  in  these 
sermons.  He  speaks  well,  clearly,  and  to  the  point,  but  does  not 
run  off  into  erudite  disquisitions.  He  takes  everyday  life,  its  toils 
and  temptations,  its  sorrows  and  joys ;  he  takes  the  human  heart 
in  sin,  indifference,  and  guilt,  and  he  takes  it  purified,  zealous  in 
good  deeds,  and  happy  and  hopeful.  This  is  a  broad  field,  and  he 
knows  how  to  work  it  to  the  best  advantage. 

108 


REV.  WILLIAM  P.  CORBIT, 


PA.STOR    OF     TIi_E     !!?iEVE]VTH     STREET     IVIETHO- 
33IST    CHUROH,    IVEAV    YORK:. 


EV.  WILLIAM  R  COEBIT  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Pbiladelpliia,  October  12tb,  1820.  His  birth  was  bum- 
ble, and,  having  had  hardly  any  educational  advantages, 
he  became  at  an  early  period  a  teamster.  In  bis  six- 
teenth year  be  was  convertetl  under  the  ministry  of  Rev. 
^  Charles  Pitman,  at  St.  George's  Methodist  Church,  in  Phila- 
delphia. At  this  time,  in  his  own  words,  he  "scarcely  knew  the 
rule  of  three  direct ;"  but  he  had  some  natural  parts  as  a  speaker 
and  a  great  deal  of  religious  enthusiasm,  and  he  became  an  exhorter, 
and  finally  a  class-leader.  In  the  spring  of  1840  he  sold  out  his 
horses  and  carts  and  took  up  his  abode  with  Mr.  Pitman,  then  the 
pastor  of  a  church  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  commenced  the 
study  of  theology.  Friends  in  Philadelphia  offered  to  provide  money 
to  send  him  to  college,  but  this  he  declined,  for  reasons  satisfactoiy 
to  himself  and  them.  During  the  following  spring  he  entered  the 
New  Jersey  Conference  as  a  traveling  preacher  in  the  Freehold  cir- 
cuit, and  thus  continued  for  one  year.  Since  tbat  period  he  has 
been  employed  without  interruption  in  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
He  has  been  stationed  in  the  following  fields  of  labor  :  Orange,  New 
Jersey,  two  years  ;  Bordentown  (where  he  built  a  new  church),  two 
years  ;  Cape  May  circuit,  one  year ;  Halsey  Street  Church,  Newark, 
two  years :  Hackettstown,  two  years ;  Franklin  Street  Church, 
Newark,  two  years  ;  Broad  Street  Church,  Newark  (which  he  found- 
ed), one  year :  Madison  Street  Church,  New  York,  two  years,  and 
same  congregation  in  Cherry  street  two  years ;  Greene  Street  Church, 
two  years;  Trinity  Church,  Jersey  City,  two  years;  Clinton  Street 
Church,  Newark,  two  years ;  Alanson  Church,  New  York,  two 
years.  In  April,  1866,  he  commenced  an  appointment  at  the  Sev- 
enteenth Street  Church,  New  York,  for  two  years. 

109 


REV.     WILLIAM    P.     CO  KBIT. 

After  filling  some  other  appointments,  he  went  to  the  DeKalb 
Avenue  Church,  Brooklyn,  where  he  served  two  years,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1874  went  to  the  Seventeenth  Street  Church,  New  York. 

Ml-.  Corbit  is  something  over  the  medium  height,  with  square, 
broad  shoulders,  and  well-proportioned  figure.  When  he  walks  his 
body  is  in  a  measure  thrown  forward,  and  he  has  a  long,  quick 
strida  His  head  is  of  good  size,  his  features  are  regular,  his  com- 
plexion is  quite  dark,  and  he  has  long  black  liair.  He  looks  to  be 
an  intelligent  man,  and  certainly  one  of  a  great  deal  of  force  and  per- 
severance of  character.  "  I  iieyevfail  in  anything,"  he  remarked  to 
us.  "  Not  that  /am  anything,  but  through  the  goodness  of  my  God 
I  have  a  purpose  which  never  grows  weary.  The  experience  of  my 
ministry  is  wonderful.  I  have  been  exalted  as  few  men  are,  and  I 
have  been  assailed  by  detraction  of  the  most  bitter  character ;  but 
I  have  kept  right  on  with  my  work  in  the  field  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
I  never  was  defeated  in  any  plan  of  my  life,  for  I  prayed  and  trusted 
in  God,  and  those  who  do  the  same  thing  will  succeed  in  the  same 
way.     I  don't  believe  in  the  word  fail,  sir." 

With  the  determination  of  overcoming  all  tlie  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  an  uneducated  man  seeking  admission  into  the  Christian 
ministry,  and  of  reaching  a  conspicuous  position  as  a  pulpit  speaker 
and  Bible  expounder,  he  turned  from  his  manual  occupation 
and  began  to  grope  his  way  in  the  mazy  and  tedious  labyrinths  of 
learning.  He  had  much  to  do,  but  he  had  patience,  indomitable 
perseverance,  a  soaring  ambition,  and  an  ardent  love  for  religious 
truths.  While  yet  on  the  threshold  of  his  investigations,  and  still 
feeble  and  undisciplined  in  his  mental  powers,  he  was  called  to 
the  practical  work  of  the  ministry.  A  natural  fluency  of  speech 
served  him  greatly.  He  could  always  talk,  and  he  made  the  very 
best  use  of  all  the  knowledge  he  had  acquired.  Every  sermon  that 
he  preached,  however  much  it  atfected  his  hearers,  he  resolved 
should  be  excelled  by  the  next  one  he  delivered.  His  themes  of 
discourse  were  never  out  of  his  mind.  He  studied  his  Bible  and 
every  other  book  which  would  assist  him,  and  his  fine  natural  parts 
quickened  and  strengthened  with  ev(  r;  day.  He  did  preach  better 
and  better.  His  eloquence  became  refined  by  education,  and  at  the 
same  time  more  powerful  and  effective,  and  he  gradually  won  a 
place  of  eminence  in  his  denomination. 

He  is  somewhat  an  eccentric  preacher.  He  says  many  pointed 
personal  things,  uses  odd  illustrations,  tells  anecdotes,  and  sometimes 

110 


REV.     WILLIAM    P.     CORBIT. 

when  he  wants  to  make  a  quotation  from  a  hymn,  sings  it.  On  one 
occasion  when  we  heard  him  he  sang  one  verse,  and  then  two  others, 
to  a  different  tune,  and  it  was  very  good  singing  too.  His  preach- 
ing is  extemporaneous  and  without  notes.  His  manner  of  prepara- 
tion is  simply  to  review  his  subject  mentally,  leaving  the  language 
to  be  used  entirely  to  the  inspiration  of  the  naoment.  He  speaks  in 
exceedingly  terse  and  well-molded  sentences,  and  his  arguments 
are  reasoned  with  no  little  skill  and  power.  Many  of  his  views  are 
original,  and  show  the  keenest  mental  discrimination;  and  all  that  he 
says  is  uttered  with  the  enthusiasm  of  eloquence  and  religious  zeal. 

Like  most  Methodist  preachers,  he  addresses  his  appeal  chiefly 
to  the  feelings.  "  Man  wants  Heaven,"  said  Mr.  Corbit  while  speak- 
ing to  us  on  this  subject.  "  He  wants  to  be  told  all  about  it,  and  to 
have  his  heart  softened  and  melted  by  the  tale  of  Jesus,  and  not 
knocked  down  by  theological  sledge-hammers  in  the  way  of  doctrinal 
arguments."  Hence  in  his  preaching  he  uses  every  means  to  arouse 
his  congregation  to  a  deep  state  of  fesling.  His  voice,  manner,  and 
language  are  all  directed  to  this  point,  and  he  seldom  fails  to  pro- 
duce the  result  he  desires.  When  he  finds  that  his  hearers  are  not 
only  listening  to  him,  but  are  swayed  in  their  emotions  by  his  own, 
he  is  in  his  element  at  once,  so  to  speak.  His  tongue  and  mind  and 
soul  are  all  aglow  with  enthusiasm,  and  there  seems  absolutely  no 
limit  to  his  power  of  language  to  proclaim  sacred  truths  and  to 
teach  the  awakening  heart.  Words  fall  from  his  mouth  in  a  del- 
uge. He  has  pathos,  sentiment,  and  sound  practical  reasoning.  He 
thunders  until  the  echoes  of  his  voice  go  far  beyond  the  church  walls, 
and  then  he  speaks  in  tones  as  soft  and  sweet  as  music.  All  this  is 
a  very  effective  kind  of  eloquence,  and  that  kind  which  does  won- 
ders in  the  Methodist  congregations.  They  delight  in  these  moving 
appeals,  these  reverberating  shouts,  and  these  pathetic  whisperings. 
They  are  wont  to  call  Mr.  Corbit's  preaching  the  style  of  the  good 
old  days  of  Methodism,  when  to  cry  Hallelujah  and  Glory  to  God 
was  not  an  offence  against  church  propriety. 

Mr.  Corbit  is  of  a  social,  genial  disposition,  and  is  popular  among 
the  people.  Certain  jDcculiarities  of  manner  and  speech  follow  him 
into  private  life,  and  in  every  circle  he  is  the  conspicuous  and  lead- 
ing person.  He  talks  a  great  deal,  and  mixes  up  subjects  of  religion 
with  secular  topics  in  a  style  quite  original.  He  is  a  man  never 
abashed,  of  ready  repartee,  good  natured,  and  altogether  an  interest- 
ing character.  j^^ 


IlEV.  SAMUEL  HANSON  COX,  1).  D. 


EY.  DE.  SAMUEL  HANSON  COX  was  born  at  Lees- 
|)  ville,  New  Jersey,  August  25th,  1793.  His  parents  be- 
longed to  the  Society  of  Friends.  After  the  death  of  his 
^^^^  father,  who  was  a  New  York  merchant,  his  mother  re- 
t^  moved,  with  her  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  to  Philadelphia, 
«^  of  wiiich  place  she  was  a  native.  Here  Samuel  attended 
school  until  1811,  when  he  went  to  Newark,  N.  J.,  to  study  law. 
Continuing  his  studies  until  November,  1812,  the  subject  of  religion 
then  became  his  chief  thought.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  ordained  by  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Jersey  at  Mendham,  July  1st.  1817.  He  remained  the  only 
pastor  at  Mendham  until  the  autumn  of  1820,  when  he  removed  to 
New  York  city,  having  accepted  a  call  to  the  Spring  street  church 
on  a  salary  relatively  much  less  than  his  income  at  Mendham.  His 
health  being  much  impaired,  he  sailed  for  Europe  on  the  10th  of 
April,  1833,  and  traveled  extensively  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
and  also  in  France,  Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Holland,  returning 
at  the  expiration  of  seven  months  greatly  improved.  In  the  spring 
of  1831  he  was  invited  to  accept  the  professorship  of  sacred  rhetoric 
and  pastoral  theology  at  Auburn,  which  was  renewed  later  in  the 
year  and  accepted.  He  remained  at  Auburn  until  May,  1837,  when 
he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn. 
In  May,  1846,  be  was  chosen  moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  August  he  attended  the  meeting  of 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  London.  A  resolution  was  introduced 
into  that  body  declaring  that  no  person  holding  slaves  or  defending 
slavery  should  be  admitted  to  its  membership.  Dr.  Cox  was  on  his 
feet  in  an  instant,  and  to  the  sui-prise  of  everybody,  denounced  the 
resolution.  The  mover,  rising  to  reply,  inquired  if  it  could  be  possi- 
ble that  the  objector  to  such  a  resolution  was  Dr.  Cox,  of  New  York, 
an  early  abolitionist,  who  had  even  been  mobbed  for  his  bold  senti- 
ments.    Dr.  Cox  eloquently  answered  that  it  was  indeed  the  per- 

112 


t^" 


Cy^i^^^H^f^^c.,^;^  X^t   f^^^>-yC  r 


REV.     SAMUEL     HAJSTSON     COX.     D.  D. 

secuted  Dr.  Cox  of  a  former  day,  but  one  who,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  had  been  delivered  from  the  blindness  of  fanaticism,  and  who 
was  proud  to  stand  forth  to  denounce  a  resolution  which  would  shut 
out  from  their  fellowship  such  a  noble  body  of  Christians  as  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Southern  states  of  America.  The  resolution  was  promptly 
voted  down.  On  his  return,  Dr.  Cox  was  wrecked  on  board  the 
steamship  Great  Britain.  An  affection  of  the  throat  rendered  it 
necessary  that  he  should  leave  Brooklyn.  On  the  last  Sabbath  of 
April,  1854,  he  preached  his  farewell  sermon  and  retired  to  Oswego, 
his  people  having  been  very  generous  in  their  provision  for  him. 

In  April,  1817,  Dr.  Cox  married  the  daughter  of  Eev.  Aaron 
Cleveland,  of  Connecuicut,  by  whom  he  has  had  six  sons  and  nine 
daughters,  two  sons  and  four  daughters  being  dead.  One  of  these 
sons  is  the  distinguished  Episcopal  prelate,  the  Eight  Eev.  A.  Cleve- 
land Coxe,  Bishop  of  the  Western  diocese  of  the  State  of  JSTew  York. 
Dr.  Cox  has  married  a  second  time.  At  the  age  of  thirty-two  he  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Williams  College.  He  wrote  a 
letter  to  the  New  York  Observer^  under  date  of  November  16tb, 
1825,  declining  the  title. 

Dr.  Cox  took  an  active  part  in  the  inauguration  of  the  abolition 
movement.  On  one  occasion  he  preached  a  sermon  in  which  he 
sought  to  allay  the  prejudice  against  the  blacks,  and  stated  that 
Christ  was  not  a  white  man,  but  of  the  yellow  Syrian  hue.  This  re- 
mark was  unfortunate,  for  it  was  shortly  after  asserted  that  he  had 
stated  that  Christ  was  a  negro.  The  following  is  a  correct  account 
of  the  riot  of  1834,  in  New  York,  during  vv^hich  Dr.  Cox's  house  and 
church  were  mobbed. 

"It  continued  through  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday  night,  increasing  in 
intensity  with  its  progress.  On  Wednesday  night,  beside  Mr.  Lewis  Tappan's 
house,  Chatham  street  chapel  was  mobbed,  and  also  the  Bowery  theatre,  because  of 
an  English  actor  by  the  name  of  Farren,  who  had  said  something  offensive  to  Ameri- 
can nationality.  On  Thursday  night  Dr.  Cox's  house  and  chvu'ch  were  mobbed, 
and  Zion  Church,  occupied  by  a  colored  congregation.  On  Friday  Dr.  Cox's  church 
was  '  finished,' his  house  saved  only  by  a  strong  military  force  who  barricaded  the 
streets;  the  church  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Ludlow  sacked,  and  the  windows  and  doors  of 
his  house  demolished,  and  dwelling-houses  torn  down  and  emptied  which  accommo- 
dated nearly  fifty  colored  families.  On  Saturday  night  it  was  planned  to  destroy  all 
the  free  Presbyterian  chiu-ches,  the  offices  of  the  obnoxious  papers,  and  the  houses 
of  ministers  and  editors,  for  it  should  be  understood  that  hatred  of  the  anti-slavery 
party  was  not  the  only  propulsion  of  the  mob.  It  included  hatred  of  Christianity, 
of  temperance,  and  of  all  moral  reforms.  The  free  Presbyterian  church  sj'stem  was 
making  itself  too  manifestly  felt  by  its  aggressive  movements,  and  must  be  over- 
thrown by  violence.     But  by  this  time  magistrates  and  propertj'-holders,  of  whatever 

113 


REV.     SAMUEL     HANSON     COX,     D.  D. 

sentiment,  bad  become  thoroughly  alarmed,  troops  were  ordered  out  in  large  num- 
bers, and  efficient  measures  taken  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  city,  which  proved 
successful. 

«'In  Mr.  Tappan's  house,  adjoining  the  Friends'  Meeting-house,  in  Kose  street, 
mirrors  were  broken,  much  of  the  furniture  piled  in  the  street  and  partially  burned, 
parlors,  bedrooms,  and  closets  desolated,  indeed,  every  room,  except  one  small 
apartment  where  Mr.  Tappan  kept  his  anti-slavery  documents,  papers,  and  books, 
which  was  left  lanmolested.  Mr.  Tappan  sent  his  family  into  the  country  and  slept 
in  his  store.  And  there  stood  his  home  for  weeks  unrepaired,  visited  by  tens  of 
thousands,  preaching  its  silent  sermon.  Dr.  Cox's  house  suffered  less  than  Mr. 
Tappan's.  His  windows  were  broken  and  Jiis  parlor  strewn  with  stones,  but  his 
family  escaped  uninjured,  and  he  himself  passed  out  through  the  crowd  without  mo- 
lestation, receiving  only  a  sprinkling  of  dust  and  insulting  language.  Several  of  his 
friends  had  mingled  in  the  mob,  and  by  ingenuity  restrained  them.  Dr.  Cox  and 
his  family  soon  went  out  of  the  city,  and  removed  before  long  to  Auburn,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  advice  of  friends.  " 

As  lias  been  mentioned,  Dr.  Cox  announced  himsell'  before  the 
Evangelical  Alliance  as  no  longer  an  abolitionist,  and  duiing  the 
agitation  in  regard  to  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  he  came  out 
in  favor  of  them.  He  also  became  vice-president  of  the  Southern 
Aid  Society.     His  views  became  radical  again  during  the  late  war. 

As  a  strong  New  School  Presbyterian,  Dr.  Cox  was  prominent  in 
the  agitation  of  1837,  which  was  followed  by  the  division  of  the 
church  into  the  old  and  new-school  bodies.  He  has  also  been  a  lead- 
ing promoter  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  a  distinguished  professor 
in  a  theological  seminary,  a  noted  lecturer  upon  sacred  history,  and 
very  active  in  the  temperance,  colonization,  anti-slavery,  and  com- 
promise movements.  He  mentions  that  an  old  Quaker  once  said  to 
him — "Samuel,  thy  mind  is  too  active.  If  thee  wants  peace,  I  can 
tell  thee  how  to  find  it.  Gret  still,  get  stilly  and  thee  shall  come  to 
know  the  hidden  wisdom  in  the  quiet  of  the  flesh.  I  tell  thee,  my 
dear  young  friend,  get  still." 

Professor  Henry  Fowler  gives  the  following  excellent  description 
of  the  subject  of  our  notice : 

"Dr.  Cox  is  a  man  of  waim  sensibilities,  ardent  zeal,  and  great 
industry,  and  he  is  also  a  man  of  marked  peculiarities  of  style  and 
manner.  He  is  one  of  those  speakers  whom  to  hear  once  is  to  know 
thoroughly.  He  displays  himself  frankly  and  unreservedly.  The 
characteristics  are  so  striking  that  one  sees  them  at  a  glance,  and 
would  recognize  them  robed  and  turbaned  in  the  deserts  of  Sahara. 
His  manner  is  earnest  and  forcible,  indeed,  somewhat  impetuous. 
He  is  faithful  in  probing  the  conscience,  and  affecting  in  his  appeals. 
He   manifests   deep  solicitude   in    his   ureaching,    and   there   is  a 

Hi 


REV.     SAMUEL     HANSON     COX,    D.  D. 

sincerity  and  ardor  in  liis  whole  manner  which  touches  the  heart 
He  is  vigorous  in  the  thought  and  forcible  in  its  presentation, 
and  he  always  commands  attention,  not  less  by  fervor  of  deliv- 
ery than  bj  exuberance  of  language  and  peculiar  redundancy  of  re- 
markable words.  He  surpasses  all  in  the  outpourings  of  sentences 
and  in  the  abundance  of  quotations.  His  memory  is  wonderful,  and 
he  uses  it  without  reserve.  His  quotations,  though  so  profuse,  are 
accurate  and  remarkably  a23propriate,  but  he  lacks  logical  order  or 
system  of  any  kind,  digressing,  episoding,  and  retui-uing  upon  his 
steps  without  law  or  method.  " 

Many  anecdotes  are  related  showing  his  peculiarities.  On  one 
occasion  he  was  preaching  on  the  text  relating  to  the  woman  "  who 
had  an  issue  of  blood  twelve  years,  and  had  suffered  many  things  of 
many  physicians,  "  Branching  from  his  main  topic  to  the  subject  of 
physicians,  he  devoted  the  remainder  of  the  discourse  to  a  discussion 
of  the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  medical  profession.  His  memory 
is  so  remarkable,  that  we  have  heard  him  deliver  a  historical  lecture 
of  two  hours  with  scarcely  a  reference  to  his  manuscript.  His  quota- 
tions, chiefly  from  the  classics,  are  constant,  both  in  his  public  ad- 
dresses and  conversation. 

In  appearance  he  is  a  fine,  stately  old  gentleman,  with  a  large, 
round,  well-developed  head,  adorned  with  silver-gray  hair.  He 
preaches  occasionally  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  but  resides  iu 
another  part  of  the  State. 

115 


IIIGHT  REV.  A.  CLEVELAND  COXE, 

15I©IIOI»    OF    WESTETllV   1V3EW^   YORIv,     IL.A.'X'E    nEC- 

TOll    OF    CALVARY    i:i»I»COr»j^lL,    CHUKOJtl, 

NEW    YOKIt. 


IGIIT  EEV.  BISHOP  A.  CLEVELAND  COXE,  D.  D., 
^)    son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.   Cox,   the  distinguished 
Kr^W^    Presbyterian  clergyman,  was  born  at  Mendbam,  N.  J., 
^^2r  May  10th,  1818.     He  was  graduated  with  high  honors  at 

the  New  York  University,  in  1838,  and  was  ordained  deacon 
in  June,  1841.  At  a  very  early  age  he  gave  evidence  of  a  rare 
literary  ability,  and  during  his  minority  published  various  poetic  ef- 
fusions, which  attracted  much  attention.  When  twelve  years  old  he 
composed  a  poem  which  is  stdl  in  use,  an  i  at  nineteen  published  his 
first  volume,  a  poem  entitled,  "  Advent,  a  Mystery."  These  were 
followed  by  "  Athwold,  a  Romaunt ;"  "  St.  Jonathan,  the  Lay  of  a 
Scald ;"  and  "  Christian  Ballads."  In  1840,  he  delivered  before 
Washington  College,  a  poem  entitled,  "  Athanasian,"  which  added 
very  much  to  his  reputation.  A  dramatic  poem  entitled,  "  Saul,  a 
Mystery,"  was  published  in  1845.  He  commenced  his  ministrations 
in  1841,  at  St  Ann's  Church,  Morrisania,  where  he  became  rector 
of  Christ  Church,  going  subsequently,  to  Christ  Church,  Hartfoi'd, 
and,  in  1854,  accepted  a  call  to  Gi-ace  Church,  Baltimore.  In  1855, 
he  visited  Europe,  and  was  the  first  American  clergyman  received 
into  full  communion  of  the  Church  of  England.  During  his  travels 
he  contributed  to  the  Churchman,  tlie  Episcopal  journal  published  in 
New  York,  a  series  of  letters  entitled,  "Impressions  of  England." 
Other  contributions  appeared  in  both  the  English  and  American 
periodicals. 

He  continued  as  rector  of  Grace  Church,  Baltimore,  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  disturbed  his  before  happy  association  witli 
his  congregation.  As  a  Northern  man,  though  of  conservative  ten- 
dencies, he  could  not  enter  into  their  sympathies  with  the  South  or 
agree  with  them  on  the  merits  of  the  issue.     He  was  universally  re- 


116 


RIGHT     REV.     A.     CLEVELAND     COXE. 

spected  and  beloved,  buc  tlie  sad  conviction  was  forced  upon  liim 
that  the  period  of  his  usefuhiess  in  the  parish  was  at  an  end.  A  like 
condition  of  matters  prevailed  in  Calvary  parish,  New  York,  where 
Eev,  Dr.  Hawks,  a  Southern  man,  found  himself  in  some  antagonism 
with  his  parishioners  on  the  war  question.  Happily  for  the  peace  of 
the  church  and  the  advantage  of  religion,  the  difficulty  in  each  in- 
stance was  settled  in  a  way  satisfactory  to  all  parties.  Dr.  Hawks 
resigned,  and  accepted  a  call  to  Grace  Church,  and  Dr.  Coxe  was 
called  to  Calvary.  He  commenced  to  officiate  during  the  winter  of 
1863.  Here  he  remained  until  elected  Bishop  of  the  Western  Dio- 
cese of  New  York.  His  residence  is  now  in  Bufftilo.  Recently  he 
has  been  again  in  Europe,  where  he  is  always  received  with  much 
distinction.  In  the  fall  of  1872,  he  went  to  the  island  of  Hayti,  to 
found  there  an  Episcopal  Mission. 

Dr.  Coxe  is  known  among  bis  professional  brethren  as  the  "  Pam- 
phleteer." He  has  entered  largely  into  the  discussion  of  the  different 
questions  which  have  agitated  the  church  from  time  to  time.  While 
his  direction  of  thought  is  so  eminently  poetic,  still  he  has  won  distinc- 
tion in  the  field  of  polemics.  A  letter  written  by  him  and  pub- 
lished, relating  to  the  calling  of  the  Ecumenical  Council  by  the  Pope, 
attracted  considerable  attention. 

Dr.  Coxe  is  a  poet  of  far  more  than  ordinary  merit,  though  he 
rather  apologizes  for  the  exercise  of  his  talents  in  this  form,  by  speak- 
ing of  it  as  merely  "an  occasional  amusement.''  "I  strove  to  vary 
the  odd  hours,"  he  says,  in  regard  to  the  composition  of  one  of  his 
poems,  "  which  I  was  able  to  steal  from  severer  occupations  for  the 
refreshing  cultivation  of  the  muse,  in  such  wise  that  even  they  might 
not  be  lost  to  Christian  meditation."  We  quote  a  piece  which  occurs 
in  his  poem  of  "  Saul,  a  Mystery." 

EVENING  HYfiESr. 
At  all  times  will  I  praise  thee,  Lord, 

My  song  shall  be  of  the?, 
When  morning's  earliest  lark  hath  soared. 

Or  sunset  tints  the  sea  ; 
Come  magnify  with  me  the  power, 

And  strike  the  warbling  string  ; 
So  always,  at  the  vesper  hour, 

Together  let  us  sing. 

Oh,  taste  and  see  that  he  is  good, 

For  blest  the  man  shall  be, 
Whose  trust  in  evil  hour  hath  stood, 

Unshaken,  Lord,  in  thee; 
117 


EIGHT     REV.     A.     CLEVELAND     COXE. 

Thine  angel  walks  bright  sentinel, 

Encamp'cl  our  tents  around, 
And  half  the  heavenly  armies  dwell, 

"Where'er  the  just  are  found. 

I  will  lay  me  down  and  sleep, 

And  wake  alike  secure  ; 
Thy  judgments  are  a  mighty  deep, 

And  all  thy  ways  are  pure  ; 
And  therefore  as  beneath  thy  wings, 

My  soul  in  peace  shall  hide. 
And  glory  to  thy  myst'ry  sings 

This  holy  eventide. 

Bishop  Coxe  is  of  the  average  height,  erect  and  active.  His  head 
is  round,  with  a  high  intellectual  forehead.  He  has  dark  hair,  to 
which  his  fair  complexion  is  in  marked  contrast.  Altogether  his 
well-moukled  features,  his  evident  intellectuality,  and  his  amiable 
expression,  make  his  face  one  not  easily  forgotten.  His  manners  are 
higli-toned,  having  a  well  preserved  dignity  mingled  with  a  great 
deal  of  gentlemanly  courtesy. 

His  sermons  are  the  compositions  of  a  man  always  under  poetic 
inspiration.  To  him  all  divine  things  and  all  human  things,  pei-vaded 
by  an  attribute  of  goodness,  are  poetry.  They  exist  to  his  conception 
in  imagery  of  beauty,  constantly  appealing  to  his  enthusiam,  his 
genius,  and  his  piety.  Hence,  all  his  impressions  are  aglow  with  fer- 
vor, and  his  eloquence  glitters  with  poetic  gems.  His  style  does  not 
by  any  means  come  under  the  denomination  of  flowery,  its  peculiar- 
ity consisting  in  gorgeousness  and  gracefulness  of  thought.  He  is 
argumentative  to  some  extent,  and  fertile  of  illustrations,  but  the 
charm  and  his  greatest  power  is  in  passages  of  fascinating  diction. 
His  voice  is  strong  without  being  loud,  and  his  tone  is  agreeable  with- 
out being  exactly  harmonious.  His  gestures  are  few  and  simple,  but 
very  expressive.  He  begins  in  a  rather  elevated,  quick  voice,  which 
gradually  falls  into  more  natural  and  pleasant  intonations.  The  ser- 
mons are  clear  to  the  dullest  understanding.  The  reasoning  is  forci- 
ble ;  there  is  no  hesitancy  in  the  delivery,  and  no  cessation  in  the 
abundant  flow  of  finely  culled  language. 

Bishop  Coxe  is  a  man  of  great  force  and  usefulness  in  his  ecclesi- 
astical position.  Adorning  it  with  rare  talents  and  admired  virtues 
he  is  most  efiicient  in  its  practical  duties.  Consequently,  his  success 
has  been  great,  and  his  fame  is  widespi-ead  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

He  stands  ever  foremost  to  battle  for  the  doctrines  of  his  cliurch, 

while  he  kneels  ever  meekest  among  the  worshipers  at  her  altars. 

118 


tS[lW.[K]®WA[S®   C£^®S[B^„[E) 


REY.  nOWAED  CROSBY,  D.  D., 

CJrIUrtCII,     ]VETV    YOXllt,    j^TS^O    C'IIA.jVCE3L.I^OK, 
OF    TTIE    ]VEW    YORIi:    XJIVIYJErsSITY. 


|[^)EV.  DR  HOWARD  CROSBY  was  born  in  New  York, 
Feb.  27th,  1826.  He  was  graduated  at  the  New  York 
■^i^  University  in  1844,  and  pursued  a  theological  course 
privately.  In  1859  he  became  professor  of  Greek  in  the 
New  York  University,  and  in  1861  professor  of  the  same  lan- 
guage in  Rutgers  College,  New  Brunswick.  He  was  ordained 
a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  by  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick  in  1861,  and  added  the  pastorship  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  to  his  duties  at  the  college.  In  March,  1863,  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  New 
York,  formerly  the  Bleeker  Street  Church.  The  pastors  of  this 
church  have  been  thi'ee  besides  Dr.  Crosby — viz :  Rev.  Mathias 
Bruen,  Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.  Dr. 
Crosby  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Harvard  University  in 
1859.  He  published,  in  1850,  a  book  of  Oriental  travel,  entitled 
"  Lands  of  the  Moslem  ;  "  in  1851,  an  edition  of  one  of  the  plays  of 
Sophocles;  and  in  1863,  his  "Commentary  of  the  New  Testament." 
He  has  been  a  constant  contributor  for  thirty  years  to  the  leading 
reviews  and  periodicals  and  the  religious  press,  and  has  issued 
numerous  pamphlets  on  theological,  classical,  and  educational  sub- 
jects. In  1870  he  was  elected  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  to  succeed  the  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Ferris.  He  was 
Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly,  at  Baltimore,  in  1873. 

The  following  is  a  glowing  passage  from  the   "Lands  of  the 
Moslem,"  descriptive  of  the  author's  approach  to  Jerusalem  : 

"The  convent  of  Mar  Elyas  was  before  us,  placed  where  the  monks  say  the 
prophet  rested  on  bis  way  to  Beersheba,  and  where  they  i^retend  to  shov/  the  marl: 
left  by  his  sleeping  body  in  the  rock.  "We  gazed  anxiously  upon  its  white  walls,  and 
urged  our  horses  up  the  hill  side  ;  but  it  was  not  the  shining  convent  that  gave  us 
energy  and  sent  the  thrill  of  eager  expectations  through  our  veins  ;  but  we  knew 
from  that  monastic  height  the  eye  might  rest  upon  Jerusalem.     The  intensity  of 

119 


REV.     HOWARD     CROSBY,     D.  D. 

Iiope  rendered  us  speechless  as  we  hastened  along  the  stouy  path  ;  joy  and  awe  were 
alike  acramulating  in  our  hearts  as  we  neared  its  summit.  The  past  and  the  present 
were  equally  unheeded,  for  our  whole  thoughts  were  centered  on  the  future  prospect. 
Onward,  with  increasing  zeal  we  vied  in  the  ascent.  The  point  was  gained,  and 
the  Holy  City  lay  fair  and.  peaceful  befor.^  our  em-aptured  eyes.  Not  in  the  wild 
forest  of  the  western  world,  not  among  the  huge  wrecks  of  EgjTptian  art,  not  on 
the  snow-clad  peaks  of  romantic  Switzerland,  had  any  scene  so  riveted  our  gaze. 
The  drapery  of  nature  in  the  land  of  the  setting  sun  was  richer  far.  The  halls  of 
the  Kamac  had  published  the  highest  triumph  of  the  human  powers,  and  Alpine 
ranges  had  yielded  far  nobler  spectacles  of  earth's  magnificence  ;  yet  here  were  all 
saqiassed,  for  heaven  threw  its  schechinah  upon  the  scene,  and  clothed  the  hill  of 
Zion  with  a  robe  of  glory.  The  sweetest  memories  hovered  like  fairest  angels  over 
the  towers  of  Salem.  Past,  jn-esent,  and  future,  all  concentred  on  the  oracle  of 
God.  There  is  Zion,  the  home  of  the  psalmist-monarch  ;  there  Moriah,  the  mount 
of  Israel's  God  ;  and  yonder,  green  with  its  appropriate  foliage,  and  graceful  as  a 
heavenly  height,  is  mild  and  holy  Olivet.  They  rise  as  beacons  to  the  wearied 
soul,  and  all  are  bathed  in  the  radiance  of  the  Cross.  The  scene  was  grand,  un- 
speakably. Our  overflowing  hearts  sent  forth  their  swollen  streams  of  feeling  in 
rejoicing.  We  looked  back  uiDon  Bethlehem — there  was  the  cradle;  we  turned 
to  Calvary — there  was  the  grave.  Between  these  two  had  heaven  and  earth  been 
reconciled.  We  paused  awhile  to  drink  deep  of  this  first  draught,  and  then  spurred 
on  to  reach  the  city." 

Dr.  Crosby  is  above  the  average  height,  and  well  proportioned. 
His  head  is  rather  long  than  broad,  and  straight,  black  and  gray  hair 
is  combed  from  an  intellectual  brow.  He  has  a  calm,  searching 
glance,  but  his  expression  is  most  kindly.  In  conversation  his  face 
becomes  animated,  but  at  other  times  it  has  a  serious,  reflective 
repose.  His  manners  are  extremely  cordial.  He  exhibits  a  true 
gentlemanly  dignity  fitting  to  his  position,  and  nothing  beyond. 

Dr.  Crosby  is  a  man  of  varied  and  profound  learning.  His  na- 
tuj-al  quickness  of  intellect  and  indomitable  perseverance  liave  led 
him  along  the  channels  of  erudition  until  he  has  attained  a  thorough- 
ness and  comprehensiveness  of  scholarship  which  is  fully  recognized 
by  the  savaiis  of  America  and  Europe.  As  a  professor  of  Greek  he 
was  a  most  successiiil  teacher,  and  his  attainments  in  tliis  particular 
branch  of  study  are  of  the  first  order.  Joined  with  the  extended 
scope  of  his  investigations,  he  has  had  the  advantage  of  travel  in 
foreign  lands.  The  ardor  with  which  he  has  pursued  his  far  wander- 
ings is  fully  shown  in  the  "Lands  of  the  Moslem,"  Nothing  of 
interest  in  his  way  seems  to  have  escaped  him,  and  his  descriptions 
of  character  and  paintings  of  scenery  are  eloquently  beautiful,  while 
acknowledged  by  other  travelers  to  be  entirely  accurate. 

Dr.  Crosby  belongs  to  the  most  valuable  class  of  living  scholars. 
He  is  neither  of  the  juvenile  nor  the  hoary-headed.     He  occupies 


REV.     HOWARD     CROSBY,     D.  D. 

that  middle  and  safer  gi'ound  of  learning,  when  the  energies  are  un- 
relaxed  bv  reason  of  inordinate  conceit,  and  the  mind  is  unfettered 
bj  the  pedantry  of  age.  He  lias  not  been  made  a  drone  in  the  gi*eat 
hive  of  intellectual  progress  by  the  position  and  advancements 
growing  out  of  success  in  early  life,  nor  does  he  sit  gorged 
with  triumphs,  and  egotistical  from  these  crowding  honors.  On  the 
contrary,  he  finds  that  he  has  work  to  do.  He  belongs  to  the  work- 
ers, and  not  to  the  idlers,  egotists,  and  dreamers.  He  is  a  part  of  the 
vast  power  of  mind  which  is  bearing  his  century  to  the  most  glorious 
page  of  all  history.  With  the  prospect  of  many  useful  years  before 
him,  energetic  in  the  prosecution  of  all  that  he  undertakes,  and  en- 
thusiastic in  developing  the  resources  of  intelligence,  he  can  but  be 
a  most  efficient  laborer  in  the  cause  of  knowledge. 

Dr.  Crosby  is  an  agreeable,  interesting  preacher.  The  observer 
is  at  once  struck  w  ith  his  entire  want  of  display  in  both  matter  and 
manner.  He  announces  his  text  twice,  and  looks  steadily  at  his 
congregation  until  he  is  seemingly  satisfied  that  they  comprehend  it. 
Without  any  trouble  about  fine  writing  and  brilliant  oratory,  he 
reaches  the  argument  which  he  desires  to  present.  While  his  lan- 
guage is  well  selected,  and  used  with  the  skill  of  a  professional 
writer,  there  is  no  effort  to  cull  especially  eloquent  and  poetic  phrases ; 
and,  as  to  his  declamation,  while  it  is  vigorous,  there  is  no  attempt 
to  parade  oratorical  graces.  In  truth,  he  is  a  plain,  practical  reasoner. 
His  power  is  in  systematic  argument,  in  the  irrefutable  maxims  of 
logic,  and  in  Christian  zeal.  His  congregation  certainly  enjoy  a  great 
advantage  from  his  preaching,  as  regards  the  particular  and  learned 
elucidation  of  the  true  translation  and  meaning  of  the  Scriptures. 
Being  a  trained  classical  scholar  and  an  accepted  commentator,  his 
sermons  are  very  rich  in  information  in  these  particulars.  At  times 
he  is  considerably  animated.  Absorbed  in  his  theme,  and  moved 
by  the  force  of  the  reasoning,  his  voice  rises,  and  he  gesticulates 
with  some  vehemence,  soon  falling  back,  however,  to  the  calm 
course  of  his  argument. 

From  our  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  the  New  York  pulpit 
gained  an  important  acquisition  in  Dr.  Crosby.  He  is  fully  con- 
scious of  the  enlarged  claims  now  made  upon  those  qualifications 
which  have  received  gratifying  recognition  in  other  fields,  and  he  is 
not  the  man  to  fall  short  of  public  expectation,  or  to  measure  his 
energies  by  anything  save  the  attainment  of  success. 

121 


BISHOP  GEORGE  D.  CUMMINS,  B.  D., 

OF    THE    KEFOnMl-EO    EI»ISCOI»A.lL.    CHXJRCH. 


ISHOP  GEORGE  D.  CUMMINS,  D.  D.,  of  the  Re- 
formed Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  Delaware,  De- 
ss===>r  cember  11th,  1822.  His  early  religious  associations  were 
^^  with  the  Methodists.  In  1841  he  was  Graduated  at 
|M.  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.  He  was  ordained  a  deacon 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  by  Bishop  Lee  of  Del- 
aware, in  October,  1815,  and  priest,  by  the  same  bishop,  in 
July,  1847.  He  subsequently  had  charge  of  Christ  Church,  Norfolk, 
Va. ;  St.  James',  Richmond ;  Trinity,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  St.  John's, 
Baltimore ;  and  Trinity,  Chicago.  While  rector  of  the  last-named,  he 
was  elected  Assistant  Bishop  of  Kentucky,  and  received  consecra- 
tion at  Christ  Church,  Louisville,  November  15th,  1866.  The  degree 
of  D.  D.  was  conferred  on  him  by  Princeton  College  in  1850. 

His  low  church  views  were  very  decided,  and  he  took  occasion  to 
censure  the  ritualistic  tendency  and  proceedings  of  some  of  the 
churches  in  the  See  of  Kentucky.  At  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance  in  New  York,  in  1873,  he  was  present,  and 
took  ecclesiastical  action,  which  occasioned  much  discussion  within 
the  Episcopal  denomination.  Soon  after  he  withdrew  from  his  re- 
lations to  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  originated  a  new 
body,  which  is  known  as  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church.  The  first 
General  Council  convened  in  the  city  of  New  York,  December  2d, 
1873,  where  all  the  necessary  steps  were  taken  for  the  efficient  organ, 
ization  of  the  new  denomination.  Later  the  Rev.  Charles  E.  Cheney, 
of  Chicago,  was  consecrated  one  of  the  bishops.  Services  were  held 
in  New  York,  and  in  other  cities  by  Bishop  Cummins.  At  the  second 
General  Council,  which  convened  in  New  York  in  May,  1874,  and 
of  which  Bishop  Cummins  was  elected  President,  the  following 
clerical  delegates  were  present : — Bishop  George  D.  Cummins,  Bishop 


122 


BISHOP  GEORGE  D.  CUMMINS,  D.  D. 

Charles  E.  Cheney,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  R  H.  Bourne,  W.  Y.  Fcltwell. 
Masou  Gallagher,  B.  B.  Leacock,  T.  J.  McFadden,  Wm,  McGuire, 
Johnston  McCormack,  Edward  D.  Neill,  W.  H.  Reid,  W.  T.  Sabine, 
Marshall  B.  Smith,  Thompson  L.  Srnith,  Charles  H.  Tucker,  J.  D. 
Wilson,  and  Walter  Windejer.  The  churches  represented  were  as 
follows  : — First  Reformed  Episcopal  Churcli,  New  York  ;  Church  of 
the  Incarnation,  Brooklyn;  Christ  Church,  Chicago;  Emmanuel 
Church,  Chicago ;  Christ  Church,  Peoria,  111. ;  First  and  Second  Re- 
formed Episcopal  Churches,  Philadelphia ;  Christ  Church,  Moncton, 
N.  B. ;  Church  of  the  Rock  of  Ages,  Littleton,  Col. ;  and  the  Re- 
formed Episcopal  Churches  of  Washington,  D.  C.  ;  Ottawa,  Canada, 
and  Aurora,  111. 

The  Reformed  church  adheres  to  Episcopacy  as  a  desirable  form 
of  congregational  government,  but  not  in  obedience  to  divine  edict. 
In  all  respects  the  Bible  is  made  the  sole  basis  of  its  doctrines  and 
practices.  What  are  considered  doctrinal  errors  in  the  Episcopal 
belief,  and  especially  ritualism  in  all  its  forms,  are  opposed  by  the 
members  of  the  Reformed  Episcopal  church.  Its  constitution  and 
canons,  after  learned  discussion,  were  adopted  by  the  second  General 
Council.  A  new  Prayer  Book  was  also  discussed  and  adopted. 
Overtures  for  affiliation  having  been  accepted  from  the  English  Free 
Church,  clerical  and  lay  delegates,  including  Bishop  Cummins  among 
the  former,  were  appointed  to  a  meeting  of  that  denomination. 

Bishop  Cummins  is  an  erect,  clerical  looking  gentleman,  of  ]3leas- 
ing  manners  and  address.  His  head  is  intellectual,  and  the  expres- 
sion of  his  face  is  cheerful  and  amiable.  He  is  prudent  and  con- 
sistent in  all  his  walks,  and  seeks  to  make  not  only  his  teachings, 
but  his  example  a  source  of  benefit  to  his  fellow-men.  As  a  preacher 
he  is  earnest  and  devout  Assured  in  faith,  he  preaches  it  with  the 
grasp  of  a  learned  mind  and  a  fervent  heart.  His  action  in  retiring 
from  his  functions  in  the  Episcopal  church  was  conscientious  and 
courageous,  and  in  upholding  the  church  which  he  has  founded,  he 
will,  without  doubt,  give  to  it  a  zeal  and  piety  which  all  men  must 
respect 

123 


HEY.  THEODORE  L.  CUYLER,  D.  ])., 

PJi^STOR    OF    THE    LjVF^YETTE     AVEjVXJE     TRES- 
IS YTERI^VIV    CIIXJRCIT,    ISKOOItEYlV. 


gJ^EV.  DR  THEODOEE  L.  CUYLEE,  pastor  of  tlie  La- 
^  fayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn,  is  a  man 
~^^^  of  marked  characteristics  of  talent  and  energy.  He  is 
^^^  the  soil  of  a  lawyer,  long  since  deceased,  and  was  born 
^p  at  Aurora,  New  York,  January  10th,  1822.  He  was  graduated 
•^  at  Princeton  College  in  1841,  his  nineteenth  year,  and  passed 
the  following  year  in  Europe.  He  amused  himself  while  abroad  with 
writing,  for  publication  at  home,  sketches  of  travel  and  distinguished 
men.  He  was  already  an  enthusiastic  temperance  refomier,  and  at 
Glasgow  he  addressed  the  citizens  at  the  City  Hall,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  reception  of  Father  Matthew.  Returning  to  the  United 
States,  he  entered  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  in  1843,  and  was 
graduated  in  May,  1846.  After  preaching  for  a  short  period  at  a 
small  place  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  in  the  autumn  of  1846,  he 
accepted  a  call  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Burlington,  New 
Jersey,  and  three  years  later,  founded  a  new  congregation  at  Trenton. 
In  May,  1853,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  new  Shawmut  Congregational 
Church,  Boston,  but  the  state  of  his  health  and  other  reasons  induced 
him  subsequently  to  decline  it  in  favor  of  a  call  to  the  Market  Street 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  New  York.  This  pulpit  had  been  for 
many  years  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  FeiTis,  then 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  In 
April,  1860,  Dr.  Cuyler  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  Lafayette 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  now  one"  of  the  largest  and  most  in- 
fluential congregations  of  Brooklyn.  The  present  edifice,  dedicated 
in  1862,  is  a  splendid  stone  structure,  in  a  select  and  commanding 
location,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beecher's,  will  seat 
more  people  than  any  church  in  the  city. 

There  are  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-five  members.     It  is  not 

124  -^ 


/A.U'L 


/ 


EEV.     THEODORE     L.     CUTLER,     D.  D. 

only  the  largest  church  in  membership  in  the  denomination,  but  it 
is  the  largest  Presbyterian  church  edifice  that  has  yet  existed  in 
America.  It  is  thu'teen  years  since  Dr.  Cuyler  was  installed  as 
pastor,  and  the  congregation  is  larger  than  Mr.  Beecher's  church 
was  at  the  end  of  his  first  thirteen  years. 

Dr.  Cuyler  received  his  degree  of  D.D.  from  Princeton  College. 
He  is  a  graphic  and  fluent  writer.  He  has  published  about  sixteen 
hundred  articles  in  religious  papers  and  magazines ;  of  all  these  com- 
bined about  fifty  millions  of  copies  have  been  issued.  They  have 
been  widely  circulated  in  Europe.  Nearly  three  hundred  articles 
have  been  written  for  the  Independent  alone.  A  volume,  entitled 
"  Stray  Arrows,"  contains  a  portion  of  his  articles  contributed  to 
newspapers.  He  is  the  author  of  two  verj  celebrated  temperance 
ti-acts,  entitled  "Somebody's  Son,"  and  "His  Own  Daughter,"  the 
former  of  which  had  a  circulation  of  one  hundred  thousand  copies. 
Among  the  papers  to  which  he  has  contributed  may  be  mentioned 
the  Christian  Intelligencer^  Independent^  and  Evangelist.  His  articles 
are  pervaded  by  a  genial  Christian  tone,  which  has  attracted  to 
them  a  wide  attention. 

He  has  jjublished  a  number  of  books.  Four  of  these,  "  Cedar 
Christian,"  "Heart-Life,"  "Empty  Crib,"  and  "Thought-Hives,"' 
have  been  reprinted  in  England. 

He  delivers  in  the  course  of  a  year  probably  one  hundred  ad- 
dresses, besides  his  sermons.  Of  the  latter  he  usually  preaches  two 
on  each  Sabbath,  and  takes  an  active  part  in  the  weekly  meetings. 

Dr.  Cuyler  is  somewhat  above  the  ordinary  stature,  erect,  and  ex- 
tremely active.  His  head  is  more  long  than  round,  with  regular 
features,  and  bold,  restless,  searching  eyes.  He  has  straight  black 
hair,  and  side  whiskers.  A  distinguished  phrenologist  says  of  him  : 
"  The  countenance  exhibits  a  strong  mental  temperament.  The  vital 
forces  are  scarcely  sufficient  to  meet  the  constant  demand  of  an  over- 
active brain.  From  early  youth  Dr.  Cuyler  has  shown  an  ardor  and 
enterprise  in  his  calling  rarely  equaled.  In  the  earnestness  of  his 
efforts  he  has  strained  every  nerve,  mental  and  physical,  and  thus 
kept  his  vital  forces  much  below  par.  Lai'ge  language  is  indicated 
in  the  eyes ;  strong  perceptive  power  in  the  projecting  eyebrows ; 
large  mirthfulness  and  ideality  impart  taste,  imagination,  and  brilliancy 
to  his  style.  Order  is  large ;  so  with  constructiveness.  Among  the 
intellectual  faculties  Comparison  is  doubtless  the  most  influential. 
He  has  a  fine  moral  development,  which  is  broad  rather  than  high. 

125 


EEV.     THEODORE     L.     CUYLER,     D.  D. 

His  IS  a  working  piety— that  which  exhibits  itself  in  practical  life 
and  is  known  by  its  fruits." 

Dr.  Cuyler  is  very  coiTectly  described  in  the  following  extract : 

"  He  mingles  freely  and  happily  with  his  people.  His  feelings  are  solid  and 
sympathetic,  his  conversation  is  fluent  and  interspersed  with  illustration,  anecdote, 
lively  metaphor,  and  felicitous  quotation;  his  manner  natural,  candid  and  frank;  his 
tone  of  voice  at  once  full,  encouraging,  and  also  gentle;  so  that  he  unites  the  gifts 
which  elicit  friendly  feeling,  promote  freedom  of  social  intercourse,  and  bind  a 
pastor  to  his  people  by  the  innumerable  threads  of  friendly  intercourse,  rather  than 
by  the  one  cable  of  profound  and  distant  reverence.  Hence  he  combines  in  an  un- 
usual degree  success  in  pastoral  labor  with  success  in  preaching.  He  teaches  his 
people  quite  as  much  out  of  the  pulpit  as  in  it.  He  seeks  to  make  his  church  an 
organized  band  who  'go  about  doing  good,'  in  working  sympathy  with  the  jjoor  and 
outcast.  He  also  diffuses  a  zeal,  'lengthening  the  cords  and  strengthening  the 
stakes '  of  their  own  influence.  Dr.  Cuyler  is  accessible  both  in  the  parlor  and  in 
the  pulijit.     One  is  sure  of  hospitality  at  church  as  well  as  at  home." 

Dr.  Cuyler's  style  as  a  preacher  is  peculiar  and  impressive.  Calm- 
ly looking  over  his  congregation,  he  utters  his  text  in  a  deliberate, 
solemn  tone,  and  pauses  for  it  to  have  due  effect.  Usually  his  texts 
are  a  few  graphic  words,  such  as  "  What  wilt  thou?  "  "  Stand  there- 
fore," "  I'ray  without  ceasing,"  "  What  tliink  ye  of  Christ?  "  Hav- 
ing fixed  every  eye  and  startled,  as  it  were,  every  heart,  he  now  pro- 
ceeds with  his  sermon.  It  is  full  of  graphic  utterances,  powerful 
illustrations,  and  eloquent  appeals.  His  voice  is  defective  in  mellow- 
ness, but  the  words  are  so  striking  and  well  chosen  that  the  tone  does 
not  seem  other  than  pleasant  to  the  ear.  By  turns  he  is  earnest  and 
emphatic,  and  then  subdued  and  pathetic  ;  sometimes  he  indulges  in 
brilliant  passages  of  description  and  naiTative,  and  then  in  ringing 
sentences  of  invective  against  human  error.  Probably  there  is  no 
preacher  who  can  more  readily  inspire  the  multitude. 

Something  of  his  style  may  be  understood  by  the  closing  portion 
of  a  sermon  on  "  The  True  Spirit :  " 

"  My  friends  of  three-score-and-ten  !  The  clock  of  our  existence  is  nearly  worn 
out.  The  wheels  have  grown  rusty.  The  springs  are  corroded.  Brush  off  the  dust 
from  its  face  and  you  will  see  that  the  hands  point  almost  to  midnight.  Your  course 
is  nearly  nin.  The  time  is  short  !  Prepare  to  meet  thy  God  !  Give  thy  heart  and 
hopes  and  thoughts  to  Christ.  And  what  thou  doest  do  quickly  !  Before  to-mmrow 
■morning  thy  clock  may  stop  forever." 

During  Dr.  Cuyler's  public  ministiy  he  has  received  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty  persons  into  church  fellowship, 
of  whom  fourteen  hundred  have  united  on  profession  of  faith.  His 
labors  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  other  moral  reforms  have  been 

126 


REV.     THEODORE     L.     CUYLER,     D.  D. 

constant  and  enthusiastic.  His  writings  and  speeches  have  shown 
earnestness  and  good  nature  as  well,  and  greatly  appealed  to  popular 
favor. 

In  the  summer  of  1872  he  returned  from  a  visit  to  Europe.  He 
went  as  a  delegate  to  a  Presbyterian  assemblage  in  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land. During  his  stay  in  Scotland  and  England  he  received  great 
attention  from  all  classes  of  society,  and  had  several  informal  meet- 
ings with  Premier  Gladstone,  and  other  statesmen. 

He  is  a  talented,  energetic  public  man,  filled  with  the  progressive 
spirit  of  his  day.  He  is  stubborn  in  his  opinions  and  stem  in  his 
principles ;  but  his  nature  is  generous,  and  all  his  impulses  are  noble. 
Animated  by  a  desire  to  do  his  part  in  the  religious  and  moral  eleva- 
tion of  mankind,  he  has  given  his  utmost  talents  and  energies  to  the 
work,  and  already  won  for  himself  an  unfading  renown. 

127 


REY.  WILLIAM  C.   DAWSON, 

PASTOR  or-  THE  criuKCH:  of  the  oiscipiuES 

OF    CHRIST,    T^EW    YORIt. 


EV.  WILLIAM  C.  DAWSON  was  born  in  Scott  county, 
Kentucky,  July  23d,  1841.  He  is  the  son  of  the  Eev. 
John  D.  Dawson,  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  He  entered 
the  Junior  Class  of  the  State  University  of  Missouri,  and 
at  the  age  of  nineteen,  was  appointed  an  adjunct  Professor 
of  the  Ancient  Languages  in  that  institution.  On  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war  the  University  was  necessarily  closed.  During 
the  next  three  years  Mr.  Dawson  was  engaged  in  teaching  and 
preaching  in  Pike  county,  Missouri,  having  been  ordained  to  the 
ministry.  In  1864  he  entered  Bethany  College,  in  West  Virginia, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  the  following  year.  He  then  took  charge 
of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples  at  Decatur,  Illinois,  remaining  two 
years.  After  this  he  passed  two  years  as  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Lexington,  Missouri,  and  three  years  in  charge  of  the  Second  Chui'ch 
of  the  Disciples  at  Louisville,  Kentucky.  In  October,  1872,  he  was 
installed  as  the  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  wor- 
shiping in  West  Twenty-eight  street,  New  York.  For  a  number  of 
years  this  congregation  occupied  a  building  on  West  Seventeenth 
street,  but,  about  1863  or  1864,  purchased  the  more  modern  and 
eligibly  located  structure  now  used  by  them.  There  are  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  members. 

The  organization  of  Christians,  to  which  Mr.  Dawson  belongs,  is 
known  by  the  designations  of  "  Disciples  of  Chiist,"  "  Church  of 
Christ,"  "  Christians,"  and  "  Carapbellites."  It  took  its  origin  in  the 
efibrt  made  many  years  since  to  effect  a  union  of  the  Protestant  de- 
nominations. "In  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,"  says  a 
writer  on  the  subject,  "  several  religious  movements  for  this  purpose 
occurred  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States,  independently  of 
each  other,  and  without  pre-concert.  The  one  which  gave  immediate 
origin  and  distinctive  character  to  the  body  now  known  as  'Disciples,' 


REV.     WILLIAM    C.     DAWSON. 

was  initiated  in  1809  by  Thomas  Campbell,  a  preaclier  of  piiritj  and 
distinction  among  the  Seceders,  aided  by  his  son  Alexander,  to  whose 
ability  and  energy  its  successful  progress  is  mainly  attributed,  and  by 
whom  it  has  been  chiefly  directed.  The  original  purpose  was  to  heal, 
if  possible,  the  divisions  of  religious  society,  and  to  develop  and 
establish  a  common  basis  of  Christian  union.  It  was  thought  that 
these  desirable  objects  could  be  attained  by  taking  the  Bible  alone  as 
a  guide,  and  its  express  teachiiigs  as  the  only  authoritative  standard 
of  faith  and  jDractice,  allowing  meanwhile  entire  liberty  of  opinion  in 
relation  to  all  matters  not  fully  revealed.  Upon  these  principles  a 
considerable  society  was  formed,  consisting  chiefly  of  membera  from 
Presbyterian  churches,  and  meetings  were  held  statedly  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  cause  of  the  union  and  for  religious  worship  and  in- 
struction. After  some  time  the  question  of  infant  baptism,  and,  as 
connected  with  it,  the  use  of  sprinkling  as  baptism,  became  matters 
of  investigation  in  the  society,  and  it  was  finally,  after  some  months, 
decided  by  a  large  majority  that  there  was  no  Scripture  warrant  for 
either  practice,  and  that  consequently,  upon  their  own  principles,  they 
were  compelled  to  renounce  them.  Becoming  then  a  society  of 
universal  believers,  they  soon  after  imited  with  the  Redstone  Baptist 
Association,  stipulating,  however,  in  writing,  that  no  standard  of 
doctrine  or  bond  of  Christian  union,  or  other  than  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, should  be  required.  By  means  of  this  union  with  the  Baptists, 
the  principles  and  views  of  the  '  Disciples,'  ably  developed  and  de- 
fended by  Alexander  Campbell  in  his  writings  and  public  discussions, 
were  widely  disseminated  and  adopted  by  many." 

After  a  time  other  features  of  primitive  Christianity  were  intro- 
duced, such  as  "  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  and  the  practice 
of  j)artaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper  on  every  Sabbath.  "In  pressing 
these  matters  upon  the  acceptance  of  the  Baptists,"  says  the  writer 
before  quoted,  "  a  spirit  of  opposition  was  at  length  aroused  in  various 
quarters,  especially  in  Yirginia  and  Kentucky,  and  a  separation,  to 
some  extent,  ensued,  many  of  the  Baptists  remaining  connected  with 
the  Disciples.  Not  long  afterward,  at  the  close  of  1831,  their 
members  were  still  further  augmented  by  a  union  between  them,  and 
a  numerous  body  which  had  originated  in  Kentucky,  and  some  other 
Western  States  under  the  labors  of  B.  W.  Stone,  and  others,  who, 
some  years  prior  to  the  movement,  led  by  Thomas  and  Alexander 
Campbell,  had  separated  from  the  Presbyterian  communion,  and,  in 
like  manner,  attempted  to  eifect  a  union  of  Christians  upon  the  Bible 

129 


REV.     WILLIAM    C.    DAWSON. 

alone.  These  reformers  readily  adopted  baptism  for  a  remission  of 
sins  and  the  ancient  order  of  things  as  practiced  by  the  Disciples,  and 
became  assimilated  with  the  latter.  Since  this  period  there  has  been 
a  great  and  constantly  increasing  accession  both  from  the  world  and 
other  religious  denominations,  and  it  is  believe  1  that  the  number  of 
members  in  the  United  States  is  now  about  300,000.  There  are 
many  churches  also  established  in  British  America,  in  Great  Britain, 
and  in  Australia.  Although  the  Disciples  reject  creeds  as  a  bond 
of  fellowship,  and  disprove  of  the  technical  language  of  popular 
theology,  holding  themselves  bound  to  speak  of  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  they  do  not  materially  differ 
from  the  evangelical  denominations  in  their  views  of  the  great  matters 
of  Christianity." 

Alexander  Campbell,  the  chief  originator  of  this  sect,  died  a  few 
years  since.  At  the  time  he  was  president  of  a  college,  which  he 
founded  in  1841  at  Bethany,  West  Virginia,  and  editor  of  the  leading 
paper  of  the  denomination,  called  the  Milleniwfn  Harhinger.  He 
was  born  in  1792,  and  originally  held  to  the  Presbyterian  faith,  from 
which  he  withdrew  in  1812,  and  received  baptism  by  immersion  in 
the  same.  In  1827  he  was  likewise  excluded  from  the  fellowship 
of  the  Baptists.  He  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  a  bold  defender 
of  the  particular  belief  of  his  reformed  sect. 

The  Disciples  have  flourished  greatest  in  the  West  and  South- 
west. Before  the  war  the  church  numbered  sixty  thousand  in  the 
State  of  Kentucky,  and  was  equally  promising  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Tennessee,  and  Virginia.  It  has  also  considerable  strength  in  West- 
ern New  York,  a  very  fine  church  having  been  built  at  Syracuse. 

The  revision  of  the  Bible  by  the  American  Bible  Union  is  gener- 
ously sustained  by  this  sect.  They  accept  the  new  version  as  their 
authentic  guide. 

Mr.  Dawson  is  of  the  medium  height,  erect,  and  active.  His  hair 
is  already  quite  gray,  giving  him  an  older  look  than  usual  in  a  man 
of  his  age.  He  has  an  intelligent,  cheerful  face,  and  his  manners  are 
frank  and  polite.  As  a  pastor  and  preacher  he  excels  in  those 
characteristics  which  best  serve  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests 
of  a  congregation.  He  is  genial  and  devoted  in  all  intercourse,  and 
he  preaches  with  the  spirit  of  God  in  his  heart.  Thoroughly  grounded 
in  the  principles  of  his  own  faith,  and  able  as  an  expounder  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  as  a  teacher  of  morals,  he  exerts  a  most  signal  influ- 
ence in  both  his  private  and  public  duties. 

130 


'LSy^y^y^^ 


REV.  CHARLES  F.  DEEMS,  D.  D., 

P»A.STOIl     OF     THE     CHXJKCII     OF     THE     STIIA.1V- 
GEKB,     ]VEW    YORK. 


EV.  CHARLES  R  DEEMS  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Baltimore,  December  dtb,  1820,  his  father  being  a  local 
preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Clnircb.  He  wi  s 
graduated  at  Dickinson  College,  Pencsylvania,  in  1839. 
Having  been  converted  before  he  entered  college,  and  feeling 
himself  called  to  the  Christian  ministry,  he  was  duly  licensed 
to  preach  in  the  Methodist  Church  during  his  senior  year.  After 
graduation  he  passed  a  winter  in  New  York,  where  he  studied  most 
of  the  time,  and  preached  occasionally  in  the  city  churches.  At  the 
early  age  of  twenty  he  was  appointed  General  Agent  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  and  selected  North  Carolina  as  his  futui'e  field  of  labor. 
He  labored  with  success  in  this  agency  until  appointed  Adjunct  Pro- 
fessor to  the  chair  of  Logic  and  Rhetoric  in  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  He  filled  this  position  acceptably  for  five  years,  when  he 
accepted  the  chair  of  Natural  Science  in  Randolph  Macon  College, 
Virginia,  but  did  not  deem  it  desirable  to  continue  in  this  professor- 
ship longer  than  one  year.  Returning  to  North  Carolina,  he  w^as 
stationed  in  Newbern  the  following  year ;  and  the  next  yeai'  was 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  to  be  held  in  St.  Louis. 
While  in  attendance  at  the  General  Conference,  he  was  elected 
President  of  the  Greensboro'  Female  College,  in  North  Carolina,  and 
for  five  years  had  charge  of  that  institution.  During  this  period  he 
rendered  a  very  important  service  to  the  conference  and  the  church, 
by  placing  the  college  on  a  permanent  basis  of  prosperity.  In  1854 
he  again  returned  to  the  regular  work  of  the  ministry,  and  was  ap- 
pointed successively  first  to  Goldsboro'  and  afterward  to  Front  street 
church,  Wilmington,  in  each  of  which  places  he  remained  two 
years.  He  was  re-eiected  to  the  General  Conference,  and  at  the  same 
period  President  of  the  Centenary  College,  Louisiana,  and  either 
President  or  Professor  of  about  eight  other  institutions.    At  the  close 

131 


REV.     CHARLES     F.     DEEMS,     D.  D. 

of  his  term  of  service  in  Wilmington  he  was  appointed  Presiding 
Elder  of  the  Wilmington  district.  A  year  later  he  was  elected  to  the 
Professorship  of  History  in  the  North  Carolina  University,  but  de- 
clined. While  Presiding  Elder  he  made  a  visit  to  Europe.  The 
citizens  of  Wilson  county,  North  Carolina,  tendered  to  him  directly 
as  a  gift  a  fine  college  building,  only  on  condition  that  he  would 
establish  there  a  male  and  female  school,  which  he  at  once  proceeded 
to  organize,  continuing  in  the  position  of  Presiding  Elder. 

In  December,  1865,  Dr.  Deems  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  he  soon  after  established  a  religious  and  literary  weekly  paper, 
called  the  The  Watchman^  which,  however,  was  suspended.  In 
July,  1866,  he  commenced  preaching  in  the  chapel  of  the  University. 
This  rehgious  movement  soon  took  the  form  of  a  new  church 
organization,  and  services  were  regularly  held.  The  congregation 
became  known  as  "  The  Church  of  the  Strangers,"  being  intended 
particularly  for  the  benefit  of  the  great  number  of  persons  who  are 
temporarily  in  the  city  and  desire  to  have  a  place  for  religious  wor- 
ship. The  gospel  is  preached  without  any  special  reference  to  any 
of  the  creeds,  and  there  is  no  ecclesiastical  connection  of  the  con- 
gregation with  any  of  the  sects.  Persons  of  all  denominations  are 
found  in  the  congregation,  and  all  are  welcomed  who  desire  to  enjoy 
purely  unsectarian  worship.  Such  an  organization  as  this  is  worthy 
of  a  city  like  New  York,  and  well  adapted  to  the  character  of  its 
great  transient  population.  It  is  a  free  church,  sustained  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  those  who  attend  and  of  the  wealthy 
Christian  merchants.  The  attendance  is  already  large,  and  it  will, 
without  doubt,  become  a  numerous  and  important  congregation. 

In  1870,  through  the  liberality  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Esq.,  the 
congregation  was  enabled  to  secure  the  property  belonging  to  the 
Mercer  street  Presbyterian  Church.  Commodore  Vanderbilt  gave 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose.  The  edifice,  a  large  and 
eligibly  situated  building  was  repaired,  and  the  congTcgation  now 
worship  in  it.  The  dedicatory  exercises  on  the  2d,  and  also  the  9th 
of  October,  1870,  were  attended  by  a  large  number  of  the  leading 
people  of  the  city,  showing  that  the  work  of  Dr.  Deems  was  most 
highly  regarded. 

Dr.  Deems  was  mvited  to  accept  the  presidency  of  a  college  in 
California,  and  also  the  same  position  in  a  college  in  Georgia,  He 
declined,  however,  being  unwilling  to  give  up  the  field  in  New 
York.  132 


REV.     CHARLES     F.      DEEMS,     D.  D. 

In  1852,  in  liis  thirty-second  year,  Dr.  Deems  received  his  degree 
of  D.  D.  from  Randolph  Macon  College;  one  of  the  Virginia  papers 
declaring  him  "the  youngest  D.  D,  in  North  America."  He  is  the 
author  of  fourteen  volumes  of  various  works,  and  numerous  published 
sermons.  Among  his  works  may  be  mentioned  "  The  Home  Altar," 
which  was-  translated  into  French;  "What  Now?"  a  volume  for 
young  ladies ;  "  Annals  of  Southern  Methodism,"  a  valuable  historical 
and  statistical  work  ;  and  his  recently  issued  volume,  "Life  of  Jesus." 
A  speech  delivered  by  him  on  the  trial  of  Dr.  Smith,  at  Petersburg, 
in  1855,  was  pronounced  to  be  a  master-piece  of  forensic  eloquence. 
An  address  on  "The  True  Basis  of  Manhood,"  first  delivered  by  in- 
vitation before  the  Literary  Societies  of  Hampden  Sidney  College, 
Ya.,  and  since  repeated  on  several  occasions,  shows  the  highest 
capabilities  as  a  thinker  and  writer. 

Dr.  Deems  is  under  the  medium  height,  sparely  made,  though 
compact  and  well-proportioned,  and  capable  of  performing  an  almost 
incredible  amount  of  labor.  He  has  a  fair  complexion,  gray  eyes, 
high  forehead,  and  a  feminine  delicacy  of  feature.  The  intellectual 
development  of  his  head  is  very  striking,  and  his  quick,  beaming 
eyes  are  full  of  mental  fire.  He  is  of  a  nervous,  impulsive  tempera- 
ment, and,  like  all  such  men,  is  rapid  in  coming  to  his  conclusions, 
and  earnest  and  enthusiastic  in  carrying  foi-ward  his, plans.  His  de- 
portment is  at  all  times  characterized  by  a  high-toned  courtesy  and  a 
genial  warmth,  which  give  him  great  attractiveness  in  social  life.  Old 
and  young  are  irresistibly  drawn  to  him.  He  has  fine  conversational 
powers,  and  his  natural  talents,  learning  in  ancient  and  modern 
literature,  and  extensive  expenence  among  all  classes  of  his  fellow- 
men,  happily  fit  him  for  an  instructive  and  fascinating  companion. 

Dr.  Deems  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  the  American 
pulpit  He  commenced  his  public  career  at  an  extremely  early  age, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  always  been  employed  in  an  energetic 
religious  and  educational  work.  His  field  of  effort  has  been  vast, 
and  his  toils  have  been  little  less  than  Herculean,  but  he  has  always 
seemed  a  master  of  every  situation  in  which  he  has  been  placed.  No 
considerations  have  ever  influenced  him  except  those  relating  to  the 
public  good,  and  the  religious  and  intellectual  elevation  of  his  fellow 
beings.  His  time,  talents,  and  means  have  all  been  prodigallv  given 
to  the  public  interest,  and  with  a  degree  of  unselfishness  which  has 
been  as  noticable  as  the  success  which  he  has  invariably  achieved. 

As  a  writer  and  speaker,  Dr.  Deems  has  few  equals.  Composition 


REV.     CHARLES     F.     DEEMS,     D.  D. 

and  speaking  are,  in  fact,  natural  talents  with  him.  He  has  a  vivid, 
spontaneous  fancy,  and  at  the  same  time  his  mind  is  naturally  far- 
reaching,  logical,  and  practical.  Hence  he  is  not  only  a  thinker,  but 
his  thoughts  weave  themselves  into  the  raost  chaste  and  beautiful 
form  of  language.  He  is  impassioned  even  in  argument;  and  there 
is  in  all  that  he  writes  and  says  the  glow  of  earnest,  sincere  feeling. 
In  his  preaching  there  is  a  display  of  the  finest  powers  of  the  natural 
orator  and  the  thorough  scholar.  His  thoughts  are  rapid,  and  they 
are  all  aglow  with  sentiment  and  emotion,  while  they  have  a  positive- 
ness  and  interest  which  can  only  be  imparted  by  extensive  learning. 
His  voice  is  smooth  and  silvery,  and  his  gestures  are  well-timed  and 
emphatic. 

Dr.  Deems  enjoyed  great  ])opularity  in  the  South,  and  was 
esteemed  one  of  the  foremost  theologians  and  public  men  in  the 
Methodist  church.  His  social  gifts,  his  pre-eminent  talents,  and  his 
devotion  to  his  church,  and  all  religious,  moral,  and  educational 
enterprises,  made  for  him  warm  hearts  wherever  he  went.  He  has 
now  entered  upon  an  equally  important  work  in  a  new  section,  and 
among  "  strangers,"  wilb  all  his  accustomed  zeal,  piety,  and  de- 
votedness.  As  he  enjoys  the  confidence  and  aid  of  the  generous 
and  enlightened  citizens  of  New  York,  he  is  likely  to  achieve  the 
crowning  success  of  his  life. 

134 


¥EWYOBR   CONrEPiNCE. 


REY.  FRANK  S.  DE   HASS,  D.D., 

r»JLSTOIl    OF    THE    I^JEXIIVGTOIV    ^VEIVUE     MIETH- 
ODIST    CHURCH,    IVETT    YORK!. 


'EV.  DE.  FEANK  S.  DE  HASS  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton County,  Pennsylvania,  October  1st,  1823.  The 
family  was  originally  German,  being  known  by  the 
name  of  Yon  Hass,  and  having  three  distinct  branches. 
^  In  the  year  1549,  Baron  Charles  De  Hass,  the  representative 
of  one  of  the  branches,  removed  to  Strasburg,  and,  after 
the  joining  of  the  dukedom  of  Alsace  to  France,  became  the 
founder  of  the  French  noble  family  of  that  name.  The  arms  of  the 
city  of  Florence  were  awarded  to  him  for  his  services  in  the  conquest 
of  Italy.  Subsequently  the  family,  who  were  Protestant,  emigrated 
to  Holland,  and  in  1772  some  portion  of  them  came  to  America,  and 
settled  in  Pennsylvania.  General  Philip  De  Hass,  of  revolutionary 
memory,  was  an  immediate  ancestor  of  the  subject  of  our  notice. 

Dr.  De  Hass  was  graduated  at  "Washington  College,  Pennsylva- 
nia, in  1839,  and  was  licensed  as  a  Methodist  preacher  in  1844.  His 
first  appointment  was  at  Leesburg,  Ohio,  in  July,  in  connection  with 
the  Pittsbiu'g  Conference.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in  1846,  and 
elder  in  1848.  In  1845,  he  was  stationed  at  Murraysville,  in  Penn- 
sylvania ;  in  '46,  Weston,  Va. ;  in  '47  and  '48,  Wheeling ;  in  '49  and 
'50,  agent  of  Alleghany  College ;  in  '51  and  '52,  Wesley  Chapel, 
Pittsburg;  in  '53  and  '54,  agent  of  Tract  Society  of  Methodist 
Church  ;  in  '55  and  ^56,  Trinity  Church,  Pittsburg ;  in  '57  and  '58, 
secretary  of  Tract  Society ;  in  '59  and  '60,  Seventh  street,  New 
York;  in  '61  and  '62,  Washington  street,  Brooklyn.  He  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Pacific  street  Chm'ch,  Brooklyn,  in  1863 ;  and,  three 
years  later,  went  to  the  Metropolitan  Church,  in  Washington  City, 
where  he  remained  three  years.  Among  the  attendants  of  this  church 
were  President  Grant,  Yice-President  Colfax,  Chief  Justice  Chase, 
and  various  other  distinguished  individuals.  Two  years  were  then 
spent  with  Trinity  Church,  Cincinnati,  and  two  subsequent  years 

135 


REV.     FRANK     S .     D  E     H  A  S  S ,     D.  D. 

in  travel  in  Europe,  Egypt,  and  Palestine.  In  tlie  Holy  Land  lie 
secured  a  rare  writing  of  the  Book  of  Moses,  found  in  a  tomb,  and 
supposed  to  date  a  thousand  years  before  Christ.  He  has  made  four 
voyages  across  the  Atlantic.  On  April  1st,  1872,  he  was  appointed 
to  the  Lexington  Avenue  Church,  New  York.  He  received  his 
degree  of  D.  D.  from  Michigan  University,  in  1870. 

Dr.  De  Hass  enjoys  considerable  reputation  as  an  eloquent 
speaker.  Various  sermons  at  camp  meetings  are  spoken  of  as  grand 
in  the  extreme.  On  one  occasion  he  chained  the  attention  of  some 
four  thousand  persons  for  one  hour  and  twenty  minutes.  He  attended 
the  General  Sunday  School  Convention,  held  in  London,  in  1852 ;  and 
at  one  of  the  sessions  made  a  speech  of  marked  beauty  and  power. 
His  publications  are  several  sermons.  He  is  engaged  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  historical  account  of  the  planting  of  Methodism  in  the 
Y  alley  of  the  Mississippi. 

He  has  a  well-proportioned  "figure,  and  fair  hair  and  complexion. 
His  face  has  a  most  amiable  expression.  The  brow  is  round  and 
high.  His  eyes  are  bright,  and  Avhen  he  talks  his  countenance  lights 
up  with  an  intelligent  animation.  In  his  manners  he  is  social  and 
genial,  while  there  is  always  to  be  observed  a  certain  measure  of 
well-conceived  dignity.  He  is  a  man  of  strong  feelings  and  very 
deep  sensitiveness.  You  can  no  more  breathe  upon  a  looking-glass 
without  leaving  the  evidence  of  it,  than  you  can  touch  him  without 
striking  the  impression  into  his  heart.  In  fact,  his  nature  in  this 
respect  has  more  of  the  sensitive  delicacy  of  the  woman  than  the 
callousness  and  indifference  common  to  the  man.  Everything  sinks 
down  into  the  recesses  of  the  heart,  there  to  send  forth  rejoicing  or 
sadness.  Hence,  as  regards  himself,  he  is  scrupulously  considerate 
of  every  word  and  act,  and  it  is  to  be  seen  that  he  is  constantly  and 
greatly  affected  by  all  that  occurs  about  him.  He  has  a  peculiar 
tenderness  of  manners,  and  is  cautious  to  give  utterance  to  no 
wounding  word.  Of  course,  a  nature  like  this  must  be  rather 
tame,  submissive,  and  negative.  It  does  not  show  an  original,  de- 
cided, governing  temperament,  but  it  may  not  be  the  less  pleasing, 
winning,  and  controlling.  And  thus  it  is  with  Dr.'  De  Hass.  You 
find  him  the  type  of  the  least  conspicuous  and  impressive  kind  of 
men,  and  yet  his  simplicity,  his  sensitiveness,  and  his  gentleness 
never  fail  to  interest  those  who  come  in  contact  with  him,  and  are 
the  sources  of  his  influence. 

His  preaching  shows  the   same   characteristics.      It  is   extem- 

136 


REV.     FRANK     S.     DE     HASS,     D.  D. 

poraneous,  and,  while  simple  and  unpretending,  is  very  emotional. 
His  effort  is  not  to  make  a  showy  discourse,  but  it  is  to  give  utter- 
ance to  the  heart's  faith,  hope,  and  love.  The  argument  is  not  defi- 
cient in  order  or  comprehensiveness,  and  it  is  frequently  illustrated 
by  eflfective  and  original  similes.  But  this  is  the  merest  shadow  of 
the  power  which  springs  from  his  mellow-toned  words,  his  trembling 
lips,  and  sometimes  glistening  eyes.  Sincere  in  the  doctrines  which 
he  proclaims,  filled  with  an  ardent  desire  to  impart  them  to  others, 
and  with  a  bosom  overflowing  with  its  sympathies  and  attachments, 
he  speaks /;-om  the  heart  and  to  the  heart.  He  seems  to  be  searching 
for  this  member,  where  it  may  nestle  shrinking,  saddened,  and  dead, 
that  he  may  touch  it  with  some  quickening  sense  of  courage,  joy, 
and  life.  The  preaching  of  Methodist  ministers  generally  may  be 
said  to  partake  of  this  character.  With  Dr.  De  Hass,  however, 
there  is  nothing  of  that  high -wrought  excitement,  and  that  systema- 
tized pathos,  so  to  speak,  indulged  in  by  so  many  of  his  ministerial 
associates.  He  discusses  his  subject  with  just  sufficient  animation 
to  give  force  to  his  speaking,  and  his  style  of  appeal  to  the  feelings 
is  as  natural  and  unaffected  as  that  of  a  mother  to  lier  babe.  The 
inquirer  for  tnith  finds  that  the  limits  which  exist  between  the  pub- 
lic speaker  and  the  auditor  are  quickly  changed  to  the  closer  com- 
munion of  Mend  with  friend. 

137 


REV.  THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.D., 

BEIVIOK      PASTOK      OF      THE      OOLI^EOIA^TE      HE- 

EORM:Er>  chxjuch:,  ivetv  YORit. 


lEV.  DE.  THOMAS  DE  WITT  was  born  at  Kingston, 
Ulster  County,  New  York,  September  13th,  1791.  He 
was  graduated  at  Union  College  in  June,  1808,  and  at  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Eeformed  Dutch  Church  at 
JSTew  Brunswick,  being  licensed  for  the  ministry  in  June,  1812. 
His  first  settlement  awd  installation  was  over  the  churches  of 
Hopewell  and  New  Hackensack,  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  in 
November  of  the  same  year.  After  a  number  of  years  spent  in  this 
position,  he  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  installed  as 
one  of  the  ministers  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Sep- 
tember 16th,  1827,  of  which  he  is  now  the  Senior  Pastor. 

Rev.  Dr.  Chambers,  also  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Collegiate 
Church,  gives  the  following  information  regarding  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  of  New  York,  commonly  called  Collegiate.  "  This," 
he  says  :  "  the  mother  church  of  the  denomination  in  this  country,  is 
the  oldest  ecclesiastical  organization  in  New  York,  having  been  found- 
ed previously  to  A.  D.  1640.  For  more  than  a  century  and  a  half 
this  was  the  only  Dutch  church  in  the  city,  and.  as  the  population  in- 
creased, it  multiplied  its  pastors  and  houses  of  worship.  Subsequently, 
when  independent  churches  were  organized,  each  under  the  charge  of 
a  single  person,  this  one,  because  of  its  plurality  of  congregations  and 
ministers,  became  popularly  known  as  the  Collegiate  Church,  although 
this  title  does  not  appear  upon  its  record,  and  has  no  official  authori- 
ty. The  first  minister  was  the  Rev.  Everardus  Bogardus,  who  came 
over  from  Holland  in  the  year  1633.  He  was  followed  by  ten  others  in 
regular  succession,  who  also  came  from  Holland,  and  preached  in  the 
Dutch  language.  In  the  year  1764  the  Rev.  Archibald  Laidlie  was 
mstalled,  with  the  express  view  of  meeting  the  wants  of  those  who 
required  the  service  to  be  in  English.  All  the  ministers  who  suc- 
ceeded him  preached  in  English  only,  except  Dr.  Livingston  and  the 


'/^in^  V/^rn. 


REV.     THOMAS     DE     WITT,     D.  D. 

venerated  Dr.  Kuypers.     The  last  sermon  in  Dutch  was  preached  in 
1803. 

"  The  chnrch  of  New  York  began  its  services  in  1626,  in  an  upper 
room,  the  spacious  loft  of  a  horse-mill,  but  after  a  few  years  erected 
a  plain  wooden  building  near  what  is  now  called  Old  Slip.  In  1642 
a  much  larger  edifice  of  stone  was  put  up  within  the  fort,  which 
stood  on  the  plot  of  ground  which  has  long  been  known  as  the 
Battery.  Fifty  years  afterwards,  the  congregation  removed  to  a  new 
edifice  in  Garden  street  ( now  Exchange  Place  ),  which  had  been  built 
for  their  accommodation.  This  church,  which,  after  being  rebuilt  of 
stone,  in  1807,  was  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  December,  1836, 
was  the  first  to  receive  a  geographical  designation.  After  a  second 
place  of  worship  had  been  erected  in  Nassau  street,  in  1729,  and  a 
third  in  William  street,  corner  of  Fulton,  in  1769,  the  oldest  building 
took  the  name  of  the  South  Church,  the  second  that  of  the  Middle, 
and  the  last  erected  that  of  the  North,  a  name  which  it  still  retains, 
although  it  has  been,  for  a  number  of  years,  the  farthest  south  by  a 
mile  of  all  the  Dutch  churches  on  the  island,  the  Middle  having  been 
relinquished  for  sacred  purjx)ses  in  the  year  1844." 

There  are  eighteen  congregations  of  the  Eeformed  Dutch  persuasion 
in  New  York.  Of  these  the  most  influential  and  wealthy  are  those  of 
the  three  Collegiate  Churches.  Their  property  is  of  large  value,  and  the 
revenue,  besides  supporting  four  distinguished  and  efficient  ministers, 
is  also  liberally  devoted  to  city  and  others  missions.  In  1857,  the 
Consistory  employed  Mr.  J.  C.  Lanphier,  a  person  of  great  Christian 
excellence,  as  a  lay  missionary  in  the  down-town  wards.  In  the 
autumn  of  that  year,  Mr.  Lanphier  originated  the  celebrated  "Noon 
Prayer  Meeting,"  still  held  daily  in  the  Consistory  Building  of  the 
North  Church  on  Fulton  street,  ''  the  results  of  which  have  resounded 
through  the  Christian  world,  and  produced  an  impression  Avhich  will 
never  be  erased  from  the  minds  of  the  present  generation." 

Dr.  De  Witt  has  been  some  sixty  years  in  the  ministry,  and  forty- 
five  in  his  present  pastorate.  He  is  not  in  active  service  now,  from 
old  age,  though  in  the  full  possession  of  all  his  faculties  and  in  good 
health.  His  name  stands  at  the  head  of  the  roll  of  the  graduates  of 
the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Church.  He  is  the  only  survivor 
of  the  five  students  with  whicii  Dr.  Livingston  opened  the  Seminary 
in  October,  1810.  Dr.  De  Witt  has  been  prominent  in  all  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  church  during  his  long  career.  He  declined  the  pro- 
fessorship of  Oriental  Literature  and  Ecclesiastical  Historv  in  the 

139 


REV.      THOMAS     DE     WITT,     D.  D. 

Seminary,  but  in  the  Board  of  Superintendents  he  has  done  faithful 
service.  For  more  than  thirty  years  he  has  been  a  trustee  of 
Eutgers  College.  New  Bi-unswick.  He  is  likewise  a  trustee  of 
Columbia  College,  New  York,  and  from  its  early  history  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  University  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
His  name  is  recorded  among  the  founders  of  the  Board  of  Education 
of  the  Eeformed  (Dutch  )  Church,  and  a  scholarship  founded  b}^  his 
munificent  gift  bears  the  name  and  perpetuates  the  memory  of  a 
beloved  son.  He  has  been  for  j^ears  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Publication,  also  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions ;  of  the  American 
and  Foreign  Christian  Union ;  of  the  New  York  City  Tract  Society ;  and 
Vice-President  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  He  received 
the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Eutgers  College,  in  1828.  His  mastery  of 
the  Dutch  language  has  made  him  extremely  familiar  with  the  'his- 
tory and  literature  of  his  church.  He  has  published  various  ser- 
mons, with  one  of  which  is  included  an  authentic  history  of  the 
Collegiate  Dutch  Church  from  its  earliest  period  under  the  Dutch 
Colonial  Government. 

The  following  extract  from  a  sermon,  entitled  "The  Christian's 
Confidence  in  Committing  his  Soul  into  tlie  Hands  of  the  Eedeemer," 
gives  a  very  correct  idea  of  Dr.  De  Witt's  style : 

' '  We  learn  the  feeeness,  as  xvell  as  greatness,  of  the  salvation  whicli  is  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

"It  is,  by  Christ  Himself,  dearly  purchased  through  His  atoning  sacrifice;  but  to 
the  sinner  it  is  the  gift  of  free  grace,  proifered  and  bestowed  '  ■without  money  and 
without  price.'  The  invitation  at  the  close  of  the  sacred  volume  is,  'The  spirit  and 
the  bride  say  come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say  come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst 
conie;  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely.'  Jesus  declared — 'Him 
that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.'  Paul  (in  Romans  iii.,  22)  states — 
'The  right. ousness  of  God,  which  is  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  is  unto  all  and  ui^on 
all  them  that  believe,  for  there  is  no  difference;  for  all  have  sinned,  and  come  short 
of  the  glory  of  God. '  Sinners  under  conviction  are  embarrassed,  and  do  not  discern 
and  appreciate  the  entire  freeuess  of  the  way  of  access  to  God  on  the  throne  of  grace 
through  Christ,  because  they  fail  to  distinguish  between  the  warrant  to  believe  in 
Christ  and  the  views  and  disjDositions  requisite  to  embrace  that  warrant.  The  war- 
rant to  believe  is  simply  and  wholly  the  free  offer  of  the  Gospel,  in  the  freeness  and 
ftillness  of  the  blessings  of  redemption  to  all  who  will  accept.  It  is  a  faithful  saying, 
worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  finners. 
His  only  plea  is,  I  am  a  sinner;  his  only  claim,  Jesus  is  the  Saviour,  able  to  save  to  the 
uttermost.  The  views  and  dispositions  requisite  to  embrace  Christ  are  alone  a  deep 
and  just  conviction  of  guilt  and  sin,  an  utter  renunciation  of  righteousness  of  his 
own,  and  the  refuge  of  the  soul  in  the  controlling  desires  to  the  needed,  suitable,  and 
all-sufficient  salvation  in  Christ.  The  convinced  and  seeking  sinner,  delivered  from 
his  embarrassment,  and  discovering  the  new  and  living  way  in  the  freeness  of  divine 

140 


REV.     THOMAS     DE     TVITT,     D.  D. 

grace,  comes  to  Christ  in  tlie  entireness  of  cordial  dependence,  and  free  and  full 
surrender.     His  language  is — 

•  Jiist  as  I  am,  without  one  plea, 

But  that  Thy  blood  was  shed  for  me,     ■ 

And  that  Thou  bid'st  me  come  to  Thee, 
Oh,  Lamb  of  God,  I  come  ! 

'Just  as  I  am,  Thou  wilt  receive, 
Wilt  welcome,  pardon,  cleanse,  relieve, 
Because  Thy  promise  I  believe. 
Oh,  Lamb  of  God,  I  come  !' 

"How  wondrously  great  and  free  is  this  salvation.      '  Come,  for  all  things  are  ready. 
"Well  may  we  exclaim,   '  How  shall  we  escape  lf  we  neglect  so  gkeat  salvatiok  ?'  ' 

Dr.  De  Witt  is  a  man  of  venerable,  striking  presence.  Of  a  well- 
formed,  stately  figure,  lie  has  a  conntenance  showing  the  most  decided 
characteristics  of  the  manl  v,  upright  nature.  It  is  one  of  those  faces 
that  bespeaks  the  individual  as  truly  and  as  clearly  as  the  record  of 
daily  deeds.  There  is  no  disguise  in  it ;  no  measure  of  dissembling, 
even  the  slightest;  no  expression  which  is  not  a  correct  index  of  the 
inward  man.  You  see  in  him  the  fair-dealing,  .out-spoken,  incor- 
ruptible man,  decided  in  his  opinions,  and  living  up  to  every  precept 
that  he  inculcates.  His  mouth  is  rather  large,  and,  being  habitually 
compressed,  gives  his  face,  as  a  whole,  a  stern  as  well  as  decided  look. 
The  eyes,  however,  are  ever  soft  and  kindly,  and  at  the  same  time 
searching  and  admonitory.  About  the  brow  are  to  be  seen  the  best 
evidences  of  natural  ability  of  the  highest  order.  It  is  deep  and 
wide,  and  has  that  rotundity  noticeable  in  those  of  superior  mental 
endowments.  An  examination  of  the  character  and  capability  of 
Dr.  Do  Witt  will  prove  him  true  in  every  pai-ticular  to  these  con- 
clusions, drawn  from  his  imposing  and  expressive  physical  structure. 
All  his  personal  qualities  are  those  of  the  Christian  gentleman,  and 
his  intellectual  accomplishments  are  both  varied  and  comprehensive. 
He  is  one  of  the  foremost  men,  not  only  in  his  own  denomination, 
but  in  the  entire  ministry.  His  long  life  has  been  given  to  a  diligent 
and  scholarly  investigation  of  theological  topics,  and  no  man  is  more 
conversant  with  all  doctrinal  points  than  himself  He  is  in  the 
stiictest  sense  an  expounder  of  the  Scriptuies  and  of  creeds,  giving  to 
them  a  thoroughly  critical  and  learned  analysis.  In  personal  inter- 
course he  is  never  other  than  dignified,  but  it  is  accompanied  with  so 
much  true  courtesy  and  fi-iendliness  that  he  occasions  no  restraint. 
He  is  an  experienced  discerner  of  character,  and  is  quick  to  appreciate 
and  encourage  those  traits  tending  to  moral   and  religious   worth. 

141 


KEV.     THOMAS     DE     WITT,     D.  D. 

The  young,  especially,  are  subjects  of  bis  almost  paternal  attention, 
and  bis  appearance  and  manners  are  well  calculated  to  give  force  to 
bis  valnable  and  gentle  counsels. 

Dr.  De  Witt  is  a  citizen  of  the  olden  time,  baving  little  con- 
genialit}^  of  spirit  witb  the  new  era.  Looking  about  him,  be  feels  as 
if  be  had  been  in  a  Eip  Van  Winkle  sleep,  so  complete  and  yet  so 
rapid  have  been  the  changes  wrought  by  what  men  call  progress.  His 
memory  is  linked  with  the  humble  beginnings  of  half  a  century  ago, 
and  he  finds  it  impossible  to  identify  himself  with  the  astonishing 
realization  of  the  present.  He  talks  abont  the  past,  be  loves  the 
society  of  those  who  delight  in  its  reminiscences,  and  in  his  study  are 
to  be  found  its  memorials  in  furniture,  books,  &c.  We  would  not 
have  it  understood  that  he  is  without  appreciation  of  the  magnifi- 
cent results  of  the  well-directed  energy  of  his  countrymen,  but  simply 
that  he  finds  himself  whirled  into  the  midst  of  influences  at  variance 
with  his  habits  and  prejudices.  Standing  as  he  does  on  the  verge  of 
the  shore  of  life,  he  turns  awa}^  from  the  noise  and  show  of  the  rest- 
less, reckless  present,  to  the  contemplation  of  the  sober,  reflective 
past.  The  follies,  the  sensations,  and  the  peculiar  teachings  of  the 
hour  do  not  attract  him  from  his  evening  musings  over  the  morning 
and  noon  of  a  life  to  be,  until  its  sunset,  a  true  illustration  of  the 
substantial  virtues  of  the  earlier  day.  And  to  those  who  are  watch- 
ing the  evening  which  he  has  reached,  its  closing  glories  seem  to  have 
lost  nothing  in  splendor  since  the  long-past  but  never-forgotten  dawn. 

To  our  view,  the  character  of  this  godly  and  distinguished  man 
meets  exactly  the  poet's  picture  of  the  exemplary  preacher,  as 
delineated  in  the  following  lines : 

"Would  I  describe  a  preacher,  such  as  Paul, 
Were  he  on  earth,  would  hear,  approve,  and  own, 
Paul  should  himself  direct  me.     I  would  trace 
His  master-strokes,  and  draw  from  his  design. 
I  would  express  him  simple,  grave,  sincere  ; 
In  doctrine  uncorrupt,  in  language  plain. 
And  plain  in  manner;  decent,  solemn,  chaste. 
And  natural  in  gesture ;  much  impress'd 
Himself,  as  conscious  of  his  awful  charge. 
And  anxious  mainly  that  the  flock  he  feeds 
May  feel  it  too;  affectionate  in  look, 
And  tender  in  address,  as  well  becomes 
A  messenger  of  grace  to  guilty  men." 

Ii2 


EEY.  JACOB  W.  DILLER,  D.  D., 

KECTOn    or     ST.    LXJftE'S     EJPISCOr>JLIj    CHXJK-CII, 

BROOKI^YIV. 


EV.  DR.  JACOB  W.  DILLEE  was  born  at  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania,  September  25tli,  1810.  After  pursuing  a 
course  of  academic  studies  at  the  Flushing  Institute, 
Long  Island,  under  Rev.  Dr.  Muhlenberg,  he  remained 
for  eight  years  an  instructor  in  the  Institution,  at  the  same  time 
preparing  himself  for  the  Episcopal  ministry.  He  was  admitted 
to  deacon's  orders  in  April,  1834,  at  St.  George's  Church,  Flushino-, 
by  Bishop  Benj.  T.  Onderdonk,  and  priest's  in  June,  1835,  at  St. 
John's  Church,  Brooklyn,  by  the  same  bishoj).  From  1835  to  1838 
he  was  assistant  to  Rev.  Dr.  ("Domine")  Evan  M.  Johnson,  at  St 
John's,  and  in  the  latter  year  became  rector  of  St.  Stephen's  Church, 
Middlebury,  Vermont,  where  he  remained  until  June,  1842,  when 
l:ie  entered  upon  his  present  rectorship  of  St.  Luke's,  Brooklyn. 

As»  early  as  1835  a  parish,  known  as  Trinity  Church,  was 
organized  in  the  eastern  section  of  Brooklyn,  then  a  mere  rural  dis- 
trict, by  Rev.  D.  V.  M.  Johnson,  the  present  rector  of  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Brooklyn,  and  a  church  was  erected  on  what  is  now  the  site 
of  St.  Luke's.  The  parish  languished  during  several  years  under 
different  rectors,  and  was  finally  abandoned,  and  subsequently  the 
church  was  sold  by  the  sheriff.  In  1842,  however,  the  parish  of  St. 
Luke  was  organized,  and  the  property  was  purchased,  through  the 
assistance  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  for  the  sum  of  four  thou- 
sand dollars.  Dr.  Diller  was  called  as  the  first  rector,  the  church 
having  twelve  communicants.  The  congregation  gained  greatly  in 
strength,  and  in  1853  an  enlargement  of  the  church  was  comj)leted, 
at  a  cost  of  fifteen  thousand  do'lars.  A  rectory  was  also  built,  cost- 
ing three  thousand  dollars.  The  whole  property  is  free  from  debt, 
^^  jncumbrance  of  thirteen  thousand  dollars  having  been  paid  in 
o4.  During  twenty-one  years  of  Dr.  Diller's  connection  with  St. 
•ake's,  up  to  1863,  there  were  1,301  baptisms,  537  persons  confirmed, 

143 


EEV.     JACOB     W.     DILLER,     D.  D. 

1,095  new  communicants,  248  marriages,  and  705  burials.  Tlie 
church  services  read  by  Dr.  Diller  from  May,  1834,  to  June,  1842, 
numbered  984,  and  in  St.  Luke's,  up  to  1863,  8,887.  Dailj^  church 
services  have  been  held  for  many  years,  and  Dr.  Diller  officiates 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  times  in  the  year.  He  is  also  the  super- 
intendent of  his  own  Sunday  School.  The  last  annual  report  of  the 
jDarish  shows  three  hundred  and  forty  communicants,  and  about  two 
hundred  children  in  the  Sunday  School. 

Dr.  Diller  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Middlebury  College, 
in  1861.     He  has  published  various  sermons  and  pastoral  addresses. 

Dr.  Diller  is  over  the  medium  height,  of  broad,  round  person,  and 
very  erect.  His  hair  and  whiskers  are  considerably  sprinkled  with 
an  iron  gray,  and  he  shows  his  age  in  everything  save  the  surprising 
vigor  of  the  physical  man.  He  walks  with  the  firm,  elastic  tread  of 
a  much  younger  person,  and  the  severe  toils  of  an  extended  and 
more  than  ordinarily  diligent  ministry  have  rather  developed  than 
impaired  a  naturally  robust  constitution.  Like  all  men  who  are  not 
merely  hard  workers,  but  cheerful  workers,  he  has  an  abounding, 
overflowing  good  nature.  In  social  life,  if  there  is  any  possible  way 
to  penetrate  you  with  a  ray  of  sunshiile,  he  is  pretty  sure  to  accom- 
plish it.  A  love  of  good,  wholesome,  refreshing  cheerfulness  beams 
forth  in  his  countenance.  His  eyes  sparkle  and  laugh  as  he  ex- 
periences the  enjoyment  of  animated  conversation,  always  enriching 
it  from  his  own  never-failing  resources  of  fancy,  wit,  and  humor. 
While  thus  a  cheerful  man,  with  a  sprightly  genial  nature,  and  ever 
seeking  to  find  a  silver  lining  in  every  cloud,  still  he  exhibits  no 
departure  from  ministerial  decorum.  On  the  contrary,  his  upper- 
most thougiit  is  tlie  discharge  of  his  holy  offices,  and  his  whole  life 
has  been  a  painstaking  application  of  his  energies  to  his  Christian 
labor.  But  he  is  not  one  of  those  religious  characters  whom  you 
invariably  find  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  in  sorrow,  and  tears,  and 
gloom.  True  to  his  God,  his  church,  and  his  conscience,  hopeful 
and  cheerful  in  earth's  brief  pilgrimage,  he  has  seen  no  reason  to 
conquer  a  natural  buoyancy  of  spints  which,  to  his  view,  demon- 
strates a  chief  beauty  of  the  regenerate  heart. 

Dr.  Diller  belongs  to  the  section  of  the  Episcopal  sect  known  as 
"High  Church,''  and  is  a  most  rigid  observer  of  the  ritual.  He  takes 
it  in  its  strict  letter  and  spirit,  and  rigidly  enforces  both  in  all  his 
professional  duties.  His  sermons,  pastoral  addresses,  and  Sabbath 
school  instruction  are  comprehensive  expositions  of  the  Episcopal 

144 


REV.      JACOB     W.     DILLEE,     D.  D. 

faith,  and  none  who  fall  -under  his  instruction  fail  to  receive  light  re- 
garding everj  point  of  inquiry.  This  may  even  be  called  a  pecu- 
liarity with  him.  He  holds  that  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
should  have  a  faith ;  and,  having  one,  should  understand  it.  His 
own  he  accepts  as  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Gospel,  and  with  a 
scholarly  address  and  a  holy  enthusiasm  he  proclaims  it,  lives  to 
illustrate  it,  and  seeks  to  enlarge  his  beloved  church.  To  be  an 
ambassador  of  the  Most  High  and  a  presbyter  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  with  him  is  not  a  mere  professional  occupation, 
but  it  is  to  be  a  priest  in  its  fullest  religious  sense.  Principalities 
and  powers,  fame  and  riches,  and  all  the  world's  allurements  and 
glitter,  do  not  weigh  "  in  the  estimation  of  a  hair  "  with  the  perform- 
ance of  the  smallest  of  his  ministerial  functions.  For  him  there  is 
no  human  exaltation  like  that  of  rugged  toil  in  the  holy  calling,  and 
no  human  achievement  like  that  of  giving  peace  to  the  anxious  soul. 
He  preaches  very  effectively,  but  in  a  style  altogether  simple,  and 
devoid  of  display. 

145 


RET.  MORGAN  DIX,  S.  T.  D., 

HECTOR    OF    TKIIVITY    IPjicRISH,    NEl^    YORK. 


'  EV.  DE.  MORGAN  DIX  is  the  son  of  Major-G-eneral  John 
A.  Dix,  and  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1827. 
He  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College  in  the  class  of 
^^^'^  1848,  and  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary  in  the  class 
^  of  1852.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in  St.  John's  Chapel,  New 
^  York,  in  September,  1862,  by  the  Bishop  of  New  Hampshire, 
and  priest  in  St.  Mark's  Church,  Philadelphia,  in  1854,  by  Bishop 
Alouzo  Potter,  of  Pennsylvania. 

His  first  position  was  as  assistant  to  Rev.  Dr.  Wilmer,  rector  of 
St.  Mark's  church,  Philadelphia.  In  1855,  he  became  one  of  the 
assistant  ministers  of  Trinity  parish,  New  York;  1858,  assistant 
rector;  and  November,  1862,  rector,  having  succeeded  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Berrian.  He  received  from  Columbia  College  the  degree 
of  A.  B.,  in  1848 ;  A.  M.,  in  1851 ;  and  S.  T.  D.,  in  1863.  He  has 
published  several  devotional  manuals,  numerous  sermons,  an  essay  on 
Christian  art,  a  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  other 
writings. 

Trinity  parish  is  the  oldest  church  organization  of  New  York, 
with  the  single  exception  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Collegiate  Church ; 
the  last  came  of  the  early  Dutch  settlers,  and  the  other  came  of  the 
English  conquerors.  About  1664,  the  first  meetings  were  held  for 
public  worship,  in  a  chapel  within  a  fort  on  the  Battery. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  1697,  divine  service  was  first  performed 
in  an  edifice  which  had  been  erected  on  the  present  site  of  Trinity 
church,  on  Broadway,  at  the  head  of  Wall  street.  The  rector  was 
Rev.  M.  Yesey,  who  went  to  England  and  was  married.  He  ofiiciated 
ably  and  faithfully  for  the  long  period  of  fifty  years.  In  1715,  Queen 
Anne  made  a  grant  to  the  corporation  of  Trinity  church,  of  certain 
land  known  as  the  "Queen's  Farm,"  lying  on  the  west  side  of  Man- 
hattan Island,  and  extending  from  St.  Paul's  chapel,  Broadway, 
northerly,  along  the  river,  to  Skinner's  road,  now  Christopher  street. 
This  property  is  now  the  heart  of  the  business  portion  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  is  of  course  of  great  value.     Some  of  it  has  been 

146 


REV.     MORGAN"     DIX,     S.  T.  D. 

sold  by  the  churcli,  and  mucin  of  it  is  under  long  leases  at  merely 
nominal  rents.  The  leases  of  a  large  number  of  lots  held  by  Wm.  B. 
Astor,  worth  millions,  and  only  yielding  a  rental  of  some  seventy 
dollars  per  year,  expired  in  1866.  St.  John's  park  property,  an  entire 
square  opposite  St.  John's  chapel,  belonging  to  the  corporation,  and 
the  property  fronting  it,  was  sold  to  the  Hudson  River  Eailroad  Com- 
pany for  a  depot,  at  the  handsome  price  of  one  million  of  dollars. 
The  value  of  the  property  still  owned  by  the  church  amounts  to 
many  millions.  The  corporation  has  had  its  title  to  this  property  as- 
sailed before  the  Legislature  and  in  the  courts,  by  persons  who  claim 
to  be  heirs  of  a  certain  Dutch  woman  named  Anneke  Jans,  but  it  is  not 
probable  that  they  can  ever  be  dispossessed.  Grace  church  congrega- 
tion was  much  assisted  in  building  their  former  church  edifice  on  the 
corner  of  Broadway  and  Rector  street,  by  the  Trinity  corporation. 
From  1745  to  1847,  the  loans,  grants,  &c.,  made  by  the  corporation 
at  the  then  value  of  land,  exceeded  two  millions  of  dollars,  which 
was  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  value  of  all  that  remained.  Of  this, 
one-half  was  leased  at  merely  nominal  rents,  amounting  to  only  four 
hundred  dollars  per  annum ;  and  there  was  a  debt  of  four  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  dollars. 

The  amount  received  from  ground  rents,  pews,  and  other  sources 
for  many  years  never  rose  higher  than  $57,932  37,  leaving  a  net  income 
of  only  $33,130  to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  parish,  the  annual 
allowance  to  most  of  the  Episcopal  chui'ches  of  the  city,  and  many 
throughout  the  State.  Trinity  church  was  enlarged  in  1737,  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1776,  rebuilt  in  1788,  then  taken  down,  and  in 
1846  the  present  building  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $358,623  34. 
The  church  is  entirely  of  brown  stone  and  is  one  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent in  the  countiy.  St.  George's  chapel  in  Beekman  street  was 
erected  in  1752.  St.  Paul's  chapel,  on  Broadway  and  Fulton  and 
Yesey  streets,  was  completed  in  1766.  Its  centennial  anniversary 
was  celebrated  by  the  re-delivery,  by  Dr.  Yinton,  of  the  sermon 
preached  as  its  consecration.  It  was  built  in  the  middle  of  a  wheat- 
field,  and  its  front  was  placed  facing  the  Hudson  river,  as  it  then 
stood  on  its  bank,  though  now  sevei-al  blocks  distant  from  it.  St. 
John's  chapel,  in  Yarick  street,  was  completed  in  1807,  and  at  a  more 
recent  period  Trinity  chapel  was  erected  in  Twenty-fifth  street.  All 
the  churches  erected  by  the  corporation,  with  the  exception  of  St 
George's  chapel  are  still  connected  with  the  parish.  There  is,  beside 
the  rector,  seven  assistant  ministers  in  charge  of  the  different  churches. 

147 


EEV.     MORGAN     DIX,     S.  T.  D. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  has  fifty- 
three  bishops  (six  missionary),  2,900  clergy,  or  one  bishop  for  every 
fifty-five  clergymen,  225,000  communicants,  24,500  Sunday  school 
teachers,  230,000  Sunday  school  scholars,  and  contributes,  for  church 
purposes,  $5,600,000  annually. 

Dr.  Dix  is  a  tall,  sparely-made  person,  with  long,  sharp  features. 
His  complexion  is  jiale,  and  his  composed  expression  approaches  to 
severeness.  Like  so  many  of  this  class,  however,  his  face  most 
generally  lights  up  with  animation  when  he  speaks.  He  is  one  who 
would  be  singled  out  of  the  crowd  as  a  man  of  student  life  and  large 
intellectual  capacity.  His  head,  in  the  upper  sections,  expands  as  if 
it  were  a  dome,  and  the  calm,  steady,  intelligent  eye  speaks  of  the 
massive  brain  within.  He  is  a  courteous,  affable,  high-toned  gentle- 
man, and  altogether  fi-ee  from  that  affected  dignity  and  supercilious- 
ness of  which  successful  young  clergymen  are  so  often  guilty.  Born 
the  inheritor  of  an  honored  name,  ambitious  to  attain  eminence  in 
his  profession,  smgularly  fortunate  in  this  advancement,  yet  he  seems 
to  have  thoroughly  schooled  himself  in  humility  rather  than  at  all  in 
arrogance.  His  professional  and  official  associations  are  mostly  with 
men  much  his  seniors  in  life,  but  they  find  him  their  equal  in  ability, 
and  award  him  their  admiration  for  his  long-matured  virtues. 

We  regard  Dr.  Dix  as  one  of  the  most  promising  of  the  Episcopal 
clergy.  He  has  already  made  himself  a  reputation  as  a  thinker  and 
speaker,  among  both  ministers  and  people.  His  sermons  are  highly 
original  productions,  written  in  pure,  beautiful,  readable  English. 
The  words  have  force,  harmony,  and  fascinating  eloquence,  and 
throughout  the  thought  is  profound.  There  is  no  slip-shod,  frothy 
declamation,  but  every  page  has  received  the  impress  of  scholarly, 
manly,  Christian  reflection.  He  is  likewise  an  agreeable,  graceful 
speaker.  There  is  something  of  a  harshness  about  his  full,  strong 
voice  when  he  commences,  but  this  gradually  disappears,  and  the  ear 
is  captivated  by  those  careful  modulations  which  show  the  finished 
orator.  His  gestures  are  few  and  simple,  while  always  expressive  and 
impressive. 

Such,  in  brief  terms,  is  a  description  of  the  talented  rector  of 
Trinity  parish.  Already  clothed  with  functions  of  commanding  im- 
portance and  influence,  esteemed  and  honored  in  all  past  and  present 
relations  of  his  social  and  professional  life,  he  may  well  lay  claim,  in 
his  future  career,  to  the  proudest  honors  which  the  Church  can  be- 


stow. 


148 


m&RAVEU  ET  H  S  WAGMR.  FROM  A  DA&UI.RRIOTTPE  BI  TUCEliFJIS. 


ISffi'W.  s 


KEY.  JOHX  DOmiM,  D.  D., 

r»A.STOI?,      OF       THE     f^OXJTH       I?A.1?TI©T      CHTJRCII, 


II^IeY.  DR  JOHN  BOWLING  was  born  at  Pavensej,  on 
the  sea  coast  of  Sussex,  in  England,  May  12tli,  1807. 
This  place  is  memorable  as  the  landing  place  of  William 
the  Conqueror  in  1066,  and  near  the  town  of  Hastings, 
where  the  Norman  Conqueror,  soon  after  landing,  triumphed 
over  the  Saxon  monarch  of  England,  Overhanging  the  liouse 
in  which  Dr.  Howling  was  born  maj  still  be  seen  the  ivy-crowned 
walls  of  Pavensey  Castle,  which  once  sheltered  the  soldiers  of  King 
William — even  in  bis  day  an  ancient  ruin  of  Eoman  origin,  covering 
several  acres.  Dr.  Dowling's  parents  and  ancestors  for  several  gen- 
erations w^ere  zealous  adherents  of  the  Established  (Episcopal) 
Churcli  of  England.  He  removed,  however,  at  an  early  age  to  Lon- 
don, and  at  seventeen  became  a  member  of  the  Eagle  street  Baptist 
church,  under  tbe  care  of  Rev.  Joseph  Ivimey,  the  historian  of  the 
English  Baptists.  His  youth  was  devoted  chiefly  to  study  and 
literary  pursuits.  At  the  early  age  of  nineteen  he  accepted  an  ap- 
pointment as  instructor  in  the  Latin  language  and  literature  at  the 
Chapham  Rise  Classical  Institute,  in  the  suburbs  of  London,  and  two 
years  later  he  became  instructor  in  the  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  and 
French  languages,  in  a  similar  institution  in  Buckinghamshire,  under 
the  care  of  Rev.  Ebenezer  West. 

In  1829,  Dr.  Dowling  established  a  classical  boarding-school  in 
Oxfordshire,  a  few  miles  from  Oxford  University,  which  continued 
in  a  flourishing  condition  until  he  disposed  of  it  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
moving to  America.  He  frequently  officiated  as  a  preacher  in  the 
pulpits  of  the  neighboring  pastors. 

In  1832,  he  embarked  with  his  family  for  the  United  States, 
where  he  arrived  in  safetj*.  It  was  not  lor.g  before  he  received  a  call 
to  the  Baptist  church  at  Catskill,  where  he  was  ordained  November 
14th,  1832,  and  preached  with  success  for  two  years.     After  this  he 

149 


REV.     JOHN     BOWLING,     D.  D. 

passed  two  years  at  Newport,  R  I,  and  in  August,  1836,  was  in- 
stalled as  pastor  of  a  Baptist  congregation  in  New  York,  worshiping 
in  Gothic  Masonic  Hall,  He  also  preached  for  some  two  or  three 
years  as  pastor  of  the  Broadway  Baptist  church  in  Hope  Chapel,  and 
at  another  period  went  to  a  church  in  Providence. 

In  1844,  he  first  became  pastor  of  the  Berean  Baptist  church  in 
Bedford  street,  New  York,  After  a  ministry  of  eight  years,  in  1852, 
he  accepted  a  call  to  a  church  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  remained 
some  time.  In  1856,  he  resumed  his  charge  of  the  Bedford  street 
church,  at  their  urgent  and  unanimous  request.  Subsequently,  after 
many  years  of  efl&cient  service,  he  v/ent  to  a  church  in  Newark,  for 
a  few  jecivs,  but  he  is  now  the  pastor  of  the  South  Baptist  Church, 
New  York. 

Dr.  Bowling  has  been  a  somewhat  prolific  writer.  While  living 
in  England  he  published  three  school  books,  which  for  many  yeai's 
were  in  general  use,  and  are  still  in  use  in  some  of  the  schools  of 
Great  Britain.  He  has  published  in  this  country  the  "  History  of 
Romanism,"  (a  large  octavo  volume  of  734  pages,  of  which  some 
thirty  thousand  copies  have  been  published  and  sold, )  *'  Power  of 
Illustration,"  "Nights  and  Mornings,"  "  Judson  Offering,"  etc.  He 
has  also  contributed  largely  to  the  religious  and  periodical  literature 
of  the  day,  written  introductory  essays  to  several  works,  and  pub- 
lished numerous  anniversary  sermons  and  college  addresses. 

In  1834  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Brown 
University,  and  in  1846,  soon  after  the  publication  of  his  "  History 
of  Romanism,"  the  degree  of  D.  D.   from  Transylvania  University. 

Dr.  Dowling  has  a  large,  round  head,  bald  about  the  brow,  and 
wears  heavy  whiskers.  His  features  are  regular,  and,  while  not  over 
large,  are  prominent,  and  expressive  of  the  intelligent  and  highly 
moral  man.  His  forehead  is  particularly  high  and  broad.  His  eyes 
are  clear  and  penetrating,  and  at  the  same  time  that  there  is  every- 
thing gentle  about  them,  as  well  as  in  the  half  smile  which  lingers 
round  the  mouth,  still  his  face  likewise  betokens  a  strong,  inflexible, 
stern  character  both  in  regard  to  principles  and  purpose.  His  man- 
ners are  cordial,  and  he  is  an  outspoken  man — always,  however,  with 
due  regard  to  the  feelings  of  others  and  a  nice  sense  of  propriety. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  cheerfulness  and  hu:nor  about  him  ;  and  he  is 
a  person  well  calculated  to  interest  and  fascinate  the  youthful  as  well 
as  those  of  matured  years. 

Dr.  Dowling's  sermons  are  thoughtful  compositions,  deeply  emo- 

]50 


E  E  V.     JOHN     COWLING,     D.  D. 

tiona],  and  full  of  religious  fervor.  His  mind  is  tborouglily  trained 
in  tlieological  discussion,  and  with  tbis  capacity  he  unites  a  heart 
overflowing  with  tender  sympathies,  and  a  nature  completely  infused 
with  religious  enthusiasm.  Hence  he  preaches  most  effectively.  He 
makes  the  doubtful  points  of  doctrine  plain,  he  kindles  the  emotions 
of  bis  bearers  from  his  own,  and  be  is  eloquent  to  a  degree  in  pic- 
turing the  bliss  of  tbe  true  and  constant  religious  life. 

Dr.  Dowling  is  in  every  sense  an  able  and  a  valuable  man.  Tlie 
abilities  and  fidelity  of  such  men  are  tbe  very  rock  and  foundation 
upon  which  the  church  must  rest  her  whole  earthly  superstructure. 
Working  for  tbe  redemption  of  a  fallen  race  and  the  glory  of  God, 
they  are  its  faithful  apostles  and  our  perfect  men. 


151 


REY.  GEORGE  B.  DRAPER,  D.  1)., 

RECTOn     OF"     HT.    ^IVDKETV'S      E  I'lHCOPA-IL. 
CMXJUCH,    (HA-RLEM:,)     ]VEW    YOlllv. 


EV.  DR  GEORaE  B.  DRAPER  was  born  at  Brattleboro, 
Vermont,  July  20th,  1827.  His  early  studies  were  at 
Trinity  school,  New  York.  He  was  graduated  at  Colum- 
bia College  in  1845,  and  at  the  Greneral  Episcopal  Theolo- 
gical Seminary,  New  York,  in  1849.  He  was  made  deacon 
•^  the  same  year,  at  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Brooklyn,  by  Bishop 
Whitehouse,  of  Illinois,  and  priest  in  1851,  at  the  Church  of  the 
Ascension,  New  York,  by  Bishop  Chase,  of  New  Hampshii-e.  He 
officiated  for  one  year  as  assistant  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  S.  Henry  at  St. 
Clement's  Church,  New  York,  while  deacon,  and  then  accepted  a 
call  to  St.  Andrew's  parish.  He  entered  upon  his  duties  July  23d, 
1850,  and  has  now  been  in  charge  of  the  parish  for  the  term  of 
twenty-three  years. 

The  earliest  movement  for  the  establishment  of  an  Episcopal 
parish  in  the  district  called  Harlem  was  in  August,  1828,  through 
the  exertions  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wainwrio;ht,  afterward  Provisional 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  and  who  had  a  summer  residence  on  the  bank  of 
the  East  river,  near  Hurlgate.  The  subject  was  agitated,  and  several 
meetings  took  place  at  a  private  house.  Religious  services  were 
held  in  the  school  house  in  November,  and  the  parish  was  duly  or- 
ganized under  the  name  of  St.  Andrew's  Church,  New  York,  Febru- 
ary 4th,  1829.  Rev.  George  L.  Hinton  was  called  as  the  first  rector, 
who  served  until  his  death  by  cholera  in  the  summer  of  1832,  when 
himself,  wife,  and  child  all  died  within  a  few  hours.  A  donation  of 
eleven  lots  of  ground  on  Fourth  avenue  was  made  by  Charles  Henry 
Hall,  Esq.,  and  six  adjoining  lots  on  One-hundred-and-twenty-sev- 
enth  and  One-hundred-and-twenty-eighth  streets  were  purchased  for 
five  hundi-ed  and  fifty  dollars  for  the  whole.  The  corner-stone  of  a 
church  edifice  was  laid  by  Bishop  John  Henry  Hobart  on  the  6th  of 
August,  1829,  and  the  building  was  consecrated  on  the  7th  of  June, 

152 


REV.      GEORGE     B.      DRAPER,     D.  D. 

1880.  The  consecration  was  among  the  latest  public  acts  of  Bishop 
Hobart,  who  died  on  the  12th  of  September  fallowing.  The  whole 
cost  of  the  structure  wns  about  four  thousand  six  hundred  dollars,  of 
which  there  remained  a  debt  of  four  thousand  dollars  in  a  mortgage 
on  the  property.  At  that  time  the  church  had  twenty  communicants. 
The  Eev.  Gurdon  S.  Coit  officiated  temporarily  as  rector  after  the 
decease  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hinton,  and  in  October,  1838,  the  Rev. 
Abraham  B.  Hart  accepted  a  call  to  the  parish.  In  the  summer  of 
1888,  the  finances  of  the  church  were  much  improved  by  the  pay- 
ment of  the  mortgage  by  Trinity  church,  a  new  one  being  given  to 
that  corporation  for  the  same  amount,  on  which  they  agreed  to  exact 
no  interest.  In  1839  nearly  twelve  hundred  dollars  were  paid  for 
assessments  on  account  of  the  opening  and  regulating  of  streets, 
which  sum  was  raised  by  subscription  among  members  of  the  con- 
gregation. 

The  rector  having  resigned  by  reason  of  ill-health,  the  Rev.  J. 
Rosevelt  Bayley  accepted  a  call  in  October,  1840.  In  April,  1842, 
Mr.  Bayley  resigned  the  rectorship,  and  soon  after  united  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  He  became  a  priest,  and  is  now  the  emi- 
nent Most  Rev.  Dr.  Bayley,  Archbishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic  See 
of  Baltimore,  Md.  It  may  be  mentioned  that  his  father  was  the  late 
Guy  C.  Bayley,  M.  D.,  one  of  the  vestrymen  of  St.  Andrew's,  and 
that  his  grandfatlier,  James  Rosevelt,  Esq.,  a  wealth v  old  Knicker- 
bocker, disinherited  him  for  what  he  deemed  apostacy  to  the  true 
creed,  appropriating  his  portion  to  charitable  purposes.  In  July, 
1842,  the  Rev.  Ralph  Hoyt  was  called  to  the  cliarge  of  St.  Andrew's, 
who  remained  one  year.  In  1843  the  Rev.  Richard  M.  Abercrombie 
was  placed  in  charge,  and  in  1846  was  called  to  the  rectorship,  which 
he  retained  until  1850. 

On  the  6th  of  June,  1850,  the  Rev.  George  B.  Draper,  deacon, 
was  called  to  the  rectorship  "so  soon  as  he  should  have  received 
priest's  orders,  and  meanwhile  to  officiate  as  minister,"  Having  been 
admitted  to  priest's  orders,  he  entered  on  his  duties  as  rector  on  the 
16th  of  March,  1851. 

The  church  property  of  St.  Andrew's  parish  consists  of  sixteen 
city  lots,  a  little  more  than  one  half  of  which  was  used  for  burial 
purposes.  The  original  church  building  stood  on  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-seventh  street,  and  was  a  neat  structure  of  wood,  with  a  high 
stone  basement.  It  was  three  times  enlarged  during  the  term  of  the 
present  rector,  and  materially  altered  from  the  original  building.     In 

153 


REV.      GEORGE     B.      DRAPER,     D.  D. 

1851.  a  rectory  was  built  on  a  line  with  the  rear  of  the  church  to- 
ward Fourth  avenue.  During  1867  fourteen  thousand  dollars  was 
raised  by  the  congregation  to  pay  for  repairing  and  improving  the 
church  property.  In  November,  1871,  the  church  was  destroyed  by 
lire.  Subsequently  the  dead  were  removed  from  the  graveyard,  for 
the  purpose  of  erecting  a  new  church  on  that  site.  In  December, 
1872,  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  edifice  was  laid  by  the  Bishop  of 
the  Diocese.  A  fine  stone  structure  has  been  erected,  with  a  seating 
capacity  of  one  thousand  persons.  At  the  commencement  of  Mr. 
Draper's  term  there  were  only  thirty  fomilies,  whereas  there  are  now 
two  hundred  families,  two  hundred  and  fifty  communicants,  and  a 
Sunday  School  of  twenty-two  teachers  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
scholars. 

This  church,  like  the  others  on  the  north  end  of  the  Island,  was 
originally  largely  attended  by  families  in  Westchester  county. 
Many  of  the  best  known  and  wealthiest  families  of  New  York  and 
that  county  have  been  among  its  parishioners.  The  congregation  is 
now  so  numerous  that  another  parish  has  been  organized. 

Dr.  Draper  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Columbia  College 
in  June,  1868.  At  one  time  he  was  editor  of  the  Churchman's  Month- 
ly Magazine^  but  his  increasing  parochial  duties  obliged  him  to  re- 
linquish the  position. 

He  is  above  the  medium  height,  well-proportioned,  and  ei-ect. 
He  has  a  head  round  and  full  in  the  upper  part,  with  a  thin  and 
narrow  face.  His  features  are  regular,  and  there  is  an  honesty, 
frankness,  and  good-nature  in  both  his  countenance  and  manners 
which  are  very  attractive.  You  readily  see  that  he  is  a  man  of  great 
force  and  energy  of  character,  though  his  labors  are  always  per- 
formed in  a  mode  the  most  circumspect  and  modest.  Few  men  have 
bolder  or  better  settled  purposes  than  he,  and  still  he  ever  goes  on 
the  "  noiseless  tenor "  of  his  way  in  a  manner  unlike  most  of 
those  who  are  engaged  in  great  public  efforts. 

Dr.  Drapei'  is  a  preacher  of  eloquence  and  power.  He  has  a 
mind  of  natural  scope  and  vigor,  and  his  life  has  been  one  of  close 
investigation  in  the  fields  of  theological  and  general  learning.  The 
action  of  his  mind  is  quick  and  keen,  and  his  powers  of  elucidati(Hi 
and  reasoning  are  such  that  he  has  no  difficulty  in  making  every 
subject  clear  to  the  understanding  of  others.  He  is  fair  and  frank 
in  his  style  of  argument;  he  searches  out  all  obstacles  and  embarrass- 
ments for  you;  he  presents  the  matter  in  every  possible  point  of 

154 


WEV.     GEORGE     B.     DRAPER,     D.  D. 

view,  and  even  then  he  does  not  ask  for  vour  concurrence  in  his 
opinion  until  you  have  given  a  calm,  mental  consideration  to  this 
argument.  His  words  are  sincere  and  well  meant ;  he  rises  before 
the  mind  as  trie  interested  friend  and  affectionate  brother ;  he  touches 
the  susceptibilities  by  his  gentleness,  his  frankness,  and  his  fascina- 
ting intelligence,  and  thus  it  is  that  he  wins  souls  to  repentance.  It 
is  not  in  him  to  wound  by  a  single  expression,  but  his  lips  are  truly 
annointed  to  heal ;  it  is  not  in  him  to  repel,  but  to  save.  His  calm 
and  impressive  delivery,  his  well  chosen  and  fluent  words,  his  simple 
but  expressive  gestures,  are  all  potent  in  his  public  exercises.  With 
an  entire  abnegation  of  the  individual,  he  seems  the  impersonation 
of  those  endowments  which  exalt  the  mere  human  into  the  spiritual 
character. 

155 


IIEV.  T.  STAFFORD  MOWNE,  B.  D., 

IlECTOH    OF    ST.    Pj\.XJL'S    (1I:I»1SCOI»AI-i)    CJtIXJI^CII, 

BK001tLYr>f. 


^^^  EV.  THOMAS  STAFFOED  BROWNE,  D.  D.,  was  born 
at  Fruit  Hill,  North  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  on  the 
9th  of  July,  1823.  He  was  graduated  at  Brown  Uni- 
versity, Providence,  September  3d,  1845,  and  at  the 
General  Theological  Seminary,  New  York  City,  June 
30th,  1848.  Immediately  afterward,  on  July  2d,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  deacon's  orders  in  Grace  Church,  New  York,  by 
Bishop  De  Lancey,  of  Western  New  York ;  and  to  priest's  orders  on 
July  1st,  1849,  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Brooklyn,  by 
Bishop  Whittingham,  of  Maryland. 

On  the  1st  of  November,  1848,  Dr.  Drowne  became  Assistant 
Minister  of  tlie  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Brooklyn,  in  which 
position  he  continued  for  a  period  of  nearly  ten  years,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  which,  on  the  22d  of  June,  1858,  he  was  elected  to  the  rector- 
ship of  St.  Paul's  parish.  This  church  was  organized  on  Christmas 
Hay,  1849,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Rev.  Isaac  P.  Labagh, 
being  one  of  the  religious  movements  in  South  Brooklyn,  a  portion 
of  the  city  then  but  sparsely  populated.  Services  were  held  for  a  short 
time  in  a  room  over  a  stable  at  the  foot  of  Union  street,  when  lots 
were  procured,  and  a  small  edifice  was  erected  in  Carroll  street,  be- 
tween Henry  and  Hicks  streets.  In  the  fall  of  1850  there  were  only 
thirteen  communicants  ;  but  the  congregation  increased,  and  during 
the  summer  of  1852  the  building  was  enlarged  with  transepts  and  a 
chancel.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Labagh  having  withdrawn  to  take  charge  of 
Calvary  Church,  in  another  part  of  the  city.  Dr.  Drowne  was  called 
to  the  vacancy,  and  the  parish  has  since  enjoyed  increased  and  con- 
stant prosperity.  During  1860  the  building  was  again  enlarged  and 
improved,  with  sittings  for  about  six  hundred  people.  When  Dr. 
Drowne  took  charge  in  1858,  the  number  of  communicants  was  under 

156 


REV.    T.     STAFFOKD    DROWNE,    D.D. 

fift}',  but  it  has  steadily  increased,  until  there  are  now  four  hundred 
and  forty-five;  while  the  number  of  families  connected  with  the  par- 
is'a  is  two  hundred,  and  of  individuals  nearly  a  thousand.  The 
Sunday  school  contains  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  children  :  and 
the  contributions  dui-ing  the  past  year  for  parochial  and  general  objects 
have  been  nearly  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  steady  growth  of 
the  congregation  having  rendered  necessary  a  larger  and  better  edifice, 
a  new  and  more  central  site  was  obtained  on  the  corner  of  Clinton 
and  Carroll  streets,  and  on  the  2d  of  November,  18(36,  ground  was 
broken  for  the  present  church.  It  was  completed,  and  first  used  for 
divine  worship,  on  the  19th  of  September,  1869  :  and  for  appropriate 
design,  massive  and  elegant  workmanship,  and  pleasing  architect- 
ural effect,  has  few  equals  in  our  country.  The  dimensions  are  145 
feet  in  length,  72  in  width,  and  60  in  height,  with  ample  accommo- 
dation for  a  thousand  persons.  A  commodious  chapel  has  since  been 
added,  85  feet  in  length  bj^  34  in  breadth,  also  of  rich  design,  in 
harmony  with  the  church,  whicli  was  first  occupied  by  the  Sunday- 
school  of  the  parish  on  the  15th  of  September,  1872. 

Since  the  erection  of  Long  Island  into  a  diocese.  Dr.  Drowne 
has  filled  the  office  of  its  Secretary,  and  been  a  member  of  its  Stand- 
ing Committee,  and  also  served  on  other  important  committees  and 
boards  of  trustees.  In  1870  he  was  appointed  the  registrar  and  his- 
toriographer of  the  diocese.  His  interest  in  historical  and  anti- 
quarian researches  has  led  to  his  election  to  membership  in  several 
State  historical  societies,  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  and 
other  literary  bodies.  In  his  library,  which  is  very  large  and  select, 
the  works  of  the  best  authors  of  all  times  are  to  be  found,  in  almost 
every  department  of  theology,  history,  the  fine  arts,  and  general 
literature. 

Dr.  Drowne  has  made  architecture  a  subject  of  extensive  study. 
He  was  intimately  associated  in  these  investigations  with  that  eminent 
master  of  the  art,  the  late  Minard  Lafever,  and  is  the  author  of  the 
letter-press  of  a  work  of  deep  research,  issued  under  the  name  of  the 
latter,  and  known  as  "  The  Architectural  Instructor,"  containing  a 
history  of  architecture  from  the  earliest  ages  to  the  present  time.  Dr. 
Drowne  has  also  published  ''  A  Commemorative  Discourse,  delivered 
on  the  completion  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  December 
19th,  1867,  with  Illustrative  Historical  Notes,"  and  an  "  Address  at 
a  Memorial  Service,"  in  the  same  church,  November  26th,  1871,  on 
the  occasion  of  uncovering  the  mural  tablet  erected  in  memory  of  its 

157 


EEV.     T.     STAFFORD    DROWNE,    D.D. 

fouuders.  From  time  to  time  he  has  contributed  articles,  theologic- 
al, critical,  and  historical,  to  various  reviews,  and  he  is  a  person  of 
the  most  acceptable  literary  as  well  as  artistic  taste. 

We  make  the  following  extract  from  a  published  sermon,  entitled 
"  The  End  of  Pride,"  preached  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
July  24th,  1858  : 

"  And  looking  at  society  in  its  best  phases,  and  selecting  its  best  examples,  is 
there  not  too  much  groveling  selfishness,  and  luxurious  living,  and  fashionable  dis- 
play, and  irreligious  vanity  ?  Is  there  not,  even  among  Christians,  the  professed 
disciples  of  a  lowly  and  self-^denying  Master,  too  much  extravagant  self-indulgence 
and  worldly  conformity  ?  One  man  prides  himself  upon  his  large  estate,  his  splen- 
did equipages,  his  magnificent  house,  his  beautiful  paintings,  his  elegant  furniture, 
and  the  nimiber  of  servants  he  emjiloys.  Another  congratulates  himself  upon  his 
mental  gifts,  his  literary  reputation,  his  business  talents,  his  mechanical  skill  or 
his  graceful  accomplishments.  Another  is  pufled  up  with  his  beauty,  or  his  dress, 
or  his  polished  manners,  or  his  noble  descent.  What  excess  of  folly  !  Why  glory 
in  that  which  is  so  transitory  and  worthless  ?  Why  glory  in  that  which  is  not  thine, 
but  which  thou  hast  received  as  a  talent  from  God  ?  Boastest  thou  of  wealth  ?  It 
is  always  winged  for  flight,  and  may  in  a  moment  break  away  from  thy  grasp  for- 
ever. Boastest  thou  of  thy  grace  and  beauty?  They  arc  as  fading  as  the  flower 
that  charms  at  early  morn  with  its  loveliness,  and  before  eventide  is  withered. 
Boastest  thou  of  thy  mental  gifts  ?  They  may  be  the  very  means  of  thy  disgrace  or 
thy  destruction.  Boastest  thou  of  thy  noble  virtues,  or  thy  deeds  of  liberality  ? 
Thy  very  boasting  deprives  thee  of  respect,  and  renders  them  of  no  efiect. 

"Alas  !  what  a  sudden  overthrow  and  comj^lete  destruction  shall  come  at  last  to 
all  this  worldliness,  and  ostentation,  and  pride !  They  must  end.  A  man  must 
reap  what  he  sows.  How  soon  in  the  dark  charnel-house  will  be  laid  the  pampered 
body,  and  to  the  darker  abodes  of  the  lost  will  descend  the  wailing  soul  !  The  pro- 
phet's sentence  will  have  its  fulfilment  anew — '  Thy  pomp  is  brought  down  to  the 
grave,  and  the  noise  of  thy  viols  :  the  worm  is  spread  under  thee,  and  the  worms 
cover  thee.' 

"  After  all,  what  is  it  that  we  get  out  of  this  world  ?  It  is  but  the  supply  of  our 
few  necessities —  a  little  food,  a  few  pieces  of  raiment,  a  short-lived  reputation,  a 
narrow  grave,  and  j^erhaps  a  monumental  shaft,  chiseled  with  a  pompous  eulogy. 
We  can  take  nothing  with  us  on  our  last  journey.  The  hand  that  now  clings  so  tightly 
to  this  world's  baubles  mast  loosen  its  hold  as  it  stiff"ens  in  death.  What  a  quick 
transition  must  there  soon  be  from  affluence  to  emptiness  ;  from  gay  laughter  to 
utter  silence  ;  from  painted  ceilings  to  dark  coffins  ;  from  all  this  beautiful  and 
marvelous  life  to  a  little  heap  of  dust !  '  Recently  two  young  princes,'  we  are  told, 
'  wished  to  see  the  remains  of  Gustavus  Vasa,  which  lie  in  the  vaults  of  the  cathedral 
of  Upsala.  They  obtained  the  consent  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  and  the  marble  sar- 
cophagus was  opened.  But  there  was  only  the  great  man's  skeleton,  while  the  silk, 
and  the  velvet,  and  the  brocade  were  yet  fresh.  The  crown  was  there,  and  the 
sceptre,  and  the  golden  buckle,  while  precious  stones  shed  a  gleam  through  the 
ghastly  chamber  of  the  sepulchre.  And  this  is  the  moral  of  all  mere  earthly  good- 
even  the  highest.  Its  splendor  decorates  the  heart  that  must  soon  cease  to  heave, 
and  lis  pomp  survives  and  mocks  the  mortal  dust.'  " 

158 


KEV.     T.     STAFFORD    DROWNE,     D.l). 

Dr.  Drowne  is  slightly  above  the  medium  heiglit,  compactly 
made,  with  an  erect  bearing  and  active  movements.  His  complexion 
is  light,  and  he  has  one  of  those  faces  in  which  the  calm  hopeful 
nature  is  most  typified.  All  the  features  are  good,  and  intelli- 
gence is  strongly  signified  in  his  fair,  broad  brow,  but  the  expres- 
sion which  arrests  you  is  a  cheerful  serenity.  Withal,  and  strangely 
too,  judging  from  his  contemplative  habits  and  scholarly  tastes,  he  is 
one  of  your  strong  men  for  action — for  resolution  which  trims  and 
relights  the  torch  of  hope  as  often  as  the  flame  dies  out.  Uniformly 
gentle  and  courteous  in  manner,  whenever  occasion  demands  he  is 
iron  of  purpose,  and  he  is  strong  in  courage.  Slow  to  resolve,  he  is 
the  more  firm  when  determined  ;  and  conscientious  in  his  judgment, 
he  is  calm  in  accepting  all  the  consequences  of  his  opinions.  Cheer- 
fully serene,  not  at  all  intent  to  individualize  himself  from  the  mass 
of  his  fellows,  it  might  well  be  thought  that  the  potter's  clay  were 
not  more  pliant.  But  his  character  is  as  diflerent  from  this  as  is  the 
soft  moss  different  from  the  rock  to  which  it  clings.  In  the  ordinary 
everyday  life,  walking  the  beaten  path,  he  is  not  unlike  other  men — 
common-place  men — men  tame  from  want  of  originality — men  no- 
thing because  there  is  so  much  of  the  same  human  material ;  but 
outside  of  the  ordinary  life,  in  that  whirlpool  of  action  where  man- 
iiood  and  resolution  and  hope  must  cleave  down  obstacles,  and  pluck 
success  from  the  grasp  of  ill-fortune — in  that  sphere  he  is  a  man  of 
new  and  nobler  elements  of  character.  As  you  put  your  foot  on  the 
sandy  shore  it  settles,  but  is  sometimes  checked  by  the  hidden  stone; 
and  so  in  the  case  under  consideration  ;  many  a  one  has  found  the 
strong  foundations  of  manly  character  where  there  seemed  the  least 
evidence  of  it  Not  the  man  to  make  a  noise  in  the  world,  not  the 
one  to  fascinate  by  showy  qualities,  and  not  the  one  to  court  no- 
toriety ;  and  yet  one  influential  from  potent  though  unobtrusive 
merit,  one  unwavering  and  heroic  in  life's  battle,  and  one  ever  teach- 
ing the  lesson  of  cheerfulness  and  patient  endeavor. 

In  personal  intercourse  Dr.  Drowne  is  genial  and  highly  com- 
panionable. He  has  excellent  conversational  powers,  and  uses  them 
with  much  freedom,  though  never  obtrusively.  His  sermons  are 
well-written  productions,  sometimes  studied  and  elaborated,  but 
usually  partaking  more  of  the  simple-worded  or  devotional  exhor- 
tation. He  has  a  voice  of  full  compass,  and  altogether  a  pleasing 
and  effective  delivery. 

159 


REV.  CORNELIUS  R.  DUFFIE,  D.  D., 

RECTOR    OF    THE    CIIXJUCM     OF     ST.    JOIIIV    J3A.I?- 
TIST,    (EI>lSCOr»^E.) 


lEV.  DR  COENELIUS  R  DUFFIE  was  born  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  August  6th,  1821.  His  father  was  the  late 
Rev.  Cornelius  R.  Duffie,  who  took  holy  orders  late  in  life, 
and  was  rector  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  formerly  on  the 
<|p)  corner  of  Broadway  and  Houston  street,  having  been  a  leading 
^f[3  salt  merchant.  Dr.  Duffie  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College 
in  1841,  and  at  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Seminary,  New 
York,  in  1845.  He  was  made  a  deacon  in  June,  1845,  at  Christ 
Church,  Hartford,  by  Bishop  Brownell,  of  Connecticut,  and  priest  in 
1848,  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  by  Bishop  Wittingham  of 
Maryland.  After  being  engaged  for  a  short  time  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Paul's  at  Sing  Sing,  he  became  assistant  minister  in  Trinity  parish, 
New  York,  and  thus  remained  about  two  years.  In  the  spring  of 
1848  he  organized  his  present  parish  of  St.  John  Baptist,  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  city,  with  a  few  families.  Preaching  was  held 
temporarily  in  a  small  chapel,  and.  ground  having  been  donated,  a 
free-stone  church  edifice  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Lexington 
avenue  and  Thirty-fifth  street,  at  a  cost  of  some  forty -five  thousand 
dollars.  The  church  was  consecrated  December  2d,  1856.  There 
are  now  one  hundred  and  fifty  communicants,  and  one  hundred  and 
thirty  children  in  the  Sunday  School. 

Dr.  Duffie  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  University  of 
New  York  in  1865.  He  was  chosen  chaplain  of  Columbia  College 
in  1857,  and  still  officiates  daily  at  the  College.  His  publications 
consist  of  various  occasional  sermons. 

Dr.  Duffie  is  about  the  medium  height,  equally  propoi-tioned,  and 
is  energetic  and  active  in  his  movements.  His  head  is  of  the  ordinary 
cast  of  an  intelligent  man.  His  expression  is  amiable,  and  his  man- 
ners are  quiet  and  plain.  He  is  a  serious,  reflective  person,  and  at 
no  time  yields  to  any  especial  vivacity.     In  the  domestic  circle  and 


KEY.      CORNELIUS     R.      DUFFIE,     D.  D. 

in  the  society  of  cliildren  be  shows  a  genial,  cheerful  disposition,  but 
he  is  not  a  man  with  whom  a  very  close  intimacy  is  likely  to  he 
formed.  This  is  not  because  he  is  naturally  of  a  cold  or  repulsive 
nature,  but  simply  because  he  seems  thoroughly  absorbed  in  his  own 
thoughts  and  religious  duties,  and  altogether  indifferent  to  every- 
thing else.  You  see  in  all  his  conduct  that  he  is  a  deeply  conscien- 
tious man.  His  simplest  acts  are  subjects  of  reflection,  and  he  does 
nothing  until  it  has  received  the  sanction  of  the  inward  monitor. 
His  personal  discipline  in  this  respect  is  rigid  in  the  extreme.  He 
makes  no  compromises  with  conscience,  but  boldly  marks  out  the 
line  of  honorable  and  Christian  duty,  and  this  his  feet  always  tread. 
Hence  those  who  know  his  character  hold  his  counsel  and  example 
in  the  highest  possible  esteem. 

Dr.  Dufhe's  sermons  are  excellent  religious  and  moral  lessons. 
Nothing  could  be  in  better  taste  of  its  kind,  or  could  it  be  delivered 
with  more  propriety  and  circumspection  as  to  time  and  place.  He 
is  a  calm  preacher;  there  is  no  emotion  and  no  excitement,  but 
much  sincerity  and  devoutness.  Dr.  Duffie  is  a  good  and  pious  man. 
He  has  led  a  blameless  life,  and  is  a  hard  w^orker.  His  diligent 
services  in  his  rectorship,  and  his  excellent  example  as  a  man  and  a 
citizen  are  subjects  of  unqualified  appreciation  by  all  persons  ac- 
quainted with  his  career. 

161 


REV.  JOSEPH  T.  DURYEA,  D.  D., 

PA.STOK    or    THE    CLA^SSOIV    A^VETVUE    I»11E©BY- 
TERI^IV    CUXJrtCH.   BROOltEYJV. 


EY.  DR  JOSEPH  T.  DURYEA  was  born  at  Jamaica,  K 
Y.,  Dec.  9ub,  1834.  He  is  of  Huguenot  descent,  and  his 
ancestors  were  of  those  who  fled  from  European  oppression 
to  plant  settlcm'nits  in  the  N.  w  \Yoi-]<l.  His  tarl'er  studies 
were  pursued  at  Union  Hall,  a  celebrated  academy  of  the 
village.  He  subsequently  went  to  Princeton  College,  where  he  was 
gi-aduated  in  1856,  and  three  years  later  closed  his  theological  course 
at  the  seminary  of  the  same  institution.  Being  of  a  literary  turn  of 
mind,  and  a  pr(,)ficient  in  music,  he  early  formed  a  plan  of  going  to 
Chicago  and  starting  a  paper  and  opening  a  music  and  book-store. 
Three  friends,  however,  without  consultation  with  each  other,  strongly 
urged  him  to  prepare  for  the  ministry,  which  he  at  length  concluded 
to  do.  He  was  licensed  in  the  autumn  of  1858,  prior  to  his  gradua- 
tion, by  the  Presbytery  of  Nassau.  In  1859  he  was  ordained  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Troy,  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  Troy,  where  he  remained  three  years.  During  this  period 
he  was  invited  to  prominent  churches  in  New  Orleans,  Cincinnati, 
Cleveland,  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  and  New  York,  but  he  could  not 
be  induced  to  leave  his  pleasant  and  highly  successful  field  until 
compelled  to  do  so  by  bis  health  giving  way  to  the  severity  of  the 
climate.  He  was  thoroughly  prostrated,  for  a  considerable  part  of 
the  winter,  by  a  neuralgic  affection,  and  it  became  evident  that  he 
must  seek  restoration  elsewhere.  In  April,  1862,  he  accepted  a  call 
to  become  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  New  York,  long  before  tendered.  By  a  providential  circum- 
stance, his  removal  from  Troy  took  place  just  preceding  the  great  fire, 
which  destroyed  so  much  of  the  city,  and,  among  other  buildings, 

102 


REV.     JOSEPH    T.     DURYEA,     D.  D. 

the  Second  Presbyterian  cliurch  and  the  house  in  which  Dr.  Duiyea 
had  lived.  Among  other  mattei-s,  in  which  he  interested  himself, 
was  the  work  of  the  Christian  Commission  in  the  armj.  After  croin» 
as  a  delegate  into  the  field,  he  returned,  and  was  chosen  to  address 
meetings  in  New  York,  Washington,  and  other  important  points, 
held  to  give  the  public  the  benefit  of  the  observations  of  those  who 
had  become  familiar  with  the  actual  operations  of  the  Commission. 
Dr.  Duryea  showed  great  zeal  in  all  branches  of  the  labor  under- 
taken by  him,  and  his  addresses  were  characterized  by  much  interest 
of  statement  and  eloquence  of  appeal. 

Several  years  since,  Dr.  Durvea  accepted  a  call  to  the  Classon 
Avenue  Presbyterian  church,  Brooklyn.  He  has  gathered  a  large  and 
influential  congregation,  and  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  foremost  of 
the  many  able  ministers  of  that  citj. 

Tn  December,  1878,  Dr.  Duryea  received  a  call  to  the  Madison 
Square  Presl3yterian  church.  New  York,  to  be  the  successor  of  the 
Eev,  Dr.  Wm.  Adams,  and  was  offered  a  salary  of  eight  thousand 
dollars,  with  two  thousand  additional  for  house  rent.  Not  only  did 
his  congregation  in  Brooklyn  oppose  his  acceptance  of  this  call,  but  a 
large  public  meeting  was  held,  at  which  speeches  were  made  by 
different  clergymen,  and  resolutions  adopted  urgently  soliciting  him, 
in  behalf  of  the  entire  Christian  community,  not  to  abandon  the  field 
in  which  he  was  then  so  efficiently  laboring.  Shortly  before  the  close 
of  the  meeting,  the  following  letter,  giving  the  information  that  he 
had  declined  the  call,  was  received  and  read : — 

To  THE  Session  of  the  Classon  Avenue  Pkesbyteeian  CdiTECH  : — 

Deae  Beetheen — At  our  last  meeting  I  informed  you  that  I  had  received  a  call 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  church,  New  York,  and  although 
I  had  neither  desire  nor  conviction  of  duty  inclining  me  to  seek  a  separation  from 
you,  yet  certain  circumstances  made  it  necessary  that  I  should  give  this  matter  care- 
ful consideration.  I  have  used  all  the  means  appointed  by  the  Lord  for  the  guidance 
of  his  ministers,  and  have  concluded  that  it  is  my  duty  to  remain  As-here  Providence 
has  placed  me.  I  have  communicated  my  decision  to  the  Madison  Square  church  by 
a  letter  sent  yesterday  evening,  to  be  delivered  to-day. 

I  hope  the  Lord  will  manifest  apjiroval  and  bless  us  together  as  pastor  and  people. 

Tours,  most  faithfully, 

JOSEPH  T.  DURYEA. 
Bkookltn,  Dec.  16th,  1873. 

Dr.  Duryea  is  a  handsome,  intelligent  appearing  person,  with  a 
tall,  erect,  well-made  figure.  His  features  are  as  regular  as  if  sculp- 
tured in  marble  by  the  hand  of  art ;  and  while  his  glances  fall  soft 

163 


REV.     JOSEPH    T,     DURYEA,    D.  D. 
« 

and  gentle  as  moonbeams,  ever  and  anon  they  are  wont  to  kindle  and 
show  the  fires  that  burn  within  the  aspiring,  daring,  hoping  heart. 
The  expression  of  the  face  is  that  of  mingled  amiability  and  thought- 
fulness.  Serene  and  kind,  it  is  also  serious  and  reflective.  His  man- 
ners are  unassuming,  and,  indeed,  somewhat  reserved,  while  showing 
no  lack  of  confidence  or  cultura  He  talks  well,  with  much  cheer- 
fulness of  disposition,  a  lively  appreciation  of  genial  and  intelligent 
companionship,  and  great  judgment  and  reflection  regarding  learned 
subjects.  He  is  a  fine  singer,  and  performs  on  several  instruments, 
and,  as  may  be  surmised,  delights  in  discreet  social  enjoyments.  At 
the  same  time,  it  can  very  well  be  seen  that  his  impulses  and  all  his 
desires  are  toned  and  kept  entii-ely  subordinate  to  the  sacred  mission 
to  which  he  had  devoted  himself,  and  to  the  attainment  of  that  con- 
spicuous scholarship  to  which  he  aspires. 

The  selection  of  Dr.  Duryea  to  be  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Col- 
legiate Dutch  Church  was  a  marked  compliment  to  his  piety  and 
talents.  He  was  asked  to  fill  the  place  once  occupied  by  a  Livingston, 
a  Kuypers,  a  Knox,  and  a  Brownlee,  and  to  be  the  colleague  of  a  De 
Witt,  a  Vermilye,  and  a  Chambers.  These  were  of  the  immortal 
dead  and  of  the  illustrious  living  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  in- 
fluential church  organizations  of  the  United  States,  and  he  who  was 
called  to  its  service  must  come  as  all  his  forerunners  had  come,  noted 
for  personal  virtues,  tried  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  and  eminent  for 
theological  attainments.  To  such  a  position  Dr.  Duryea  was  invited, 
and  under  such  circumstances  he  entered  the  pulpits  of  the  Collegiate 
Church.  Young,  and  modest  in  his  nature,  he  might  well  have 
shrunk  from  the  task  before  him  without  the  slightest  aspersion  upon 
his  scholarly  qualifications.  He  might  with  justice  have  chosen  the 
humbler  walk  of  the  inexperienced  minister  rather  than  a  station 
made  illustrious,  through  a  period  of  more  than  two  centuries,  by 
pre-eminent  godliness  and  learning.  But,  no;  gladly,  proudly,  and 
courageously  he  took  his  place  at  the  olden  altars,  where  clustered 
the  memoiies  of  the  fathers  gone  before,  and  where  stood  other  aged 
and  worthy  watchmen  of  Z  on.  His  ambition  was  stimulated,  not 
satisfied  ;  he  was  inspired,  not  abashed;  he  consecrated  himself  more 
thoroughly  to  God's  work,  not  forgetting  humility  as  his  own  first 
example. 

Dr.  Duryea  is  a  preacher  of  remarkable  effectiveness.  His  sermons 
are  argumentative ;  they  go  to  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth  of 
principle,  and  still  every  word  is  earnest,  graceful  eloquence.      He 


EEV.    JOSEPH    T.     DURYEA,    D.  T). 

stands  erect,  looking  the  embodiment  of  conscious  power,  while  his 
brain  and  heart  are  overflowing  with  the  theme  to  which  he  has  ad- 
dressed his  thoughts.  In  writing  he  has  comprehended  all  that  he 
desired  to  say,  and  he  has  the  art  of  reasoning  and  the  force  and 
beauty  of  language  to  make  others  comprehend  it  also.  In  speak- 
ing he  feels,  and  shows  that  he  feels,  the  truths  that  he  declares,  and 
his  clear  voice  and  perfect  gesticulation  carry  his  meaning  direct  and 
full  to  the  conviction  of  the  listening  observer.  Not  a  word  falls 
barren  of  emphasis  and  effect,  and  as  he  proceed?,  employing  attitude 
as  well  as  utterance,  he  sweeps  irresistibly  onward  to  the  grand 
climax  of  the  hearer's  full  subjugation  in  heart  to  his  eloquence,  in 
mind  to  his  wisdom.  He  seems  to  impose  upon  himself  the  elucida- 
tion of  diificult  texts,  and  the  expounding  of  gi'eat  principles.  Ab- 
sorbed, and  yet  quick  to  think  in  the  study,  he  is  all  ease,  eagerness, 
and  eloquence  in  the  pulpit.  Going  downward  to  the  foundations  of 
logic,  he  raises  upward,  where  inspiration  and  faith  allure  his  souL 
Speaking,  gifted  with  all  manly  graces,  his  talents  give  splendor  to 
Christian  oratory. 

165 


REY.  THEODORE  A.  EATON, 


'EV.  THEODORE  A.  EATON"  was  born  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  August  3d,  1821,  and  is  the  son  of  the  late 
^  Rev.  Dr.  Asa  Eaton,  for  many  years  rector  of  Christ 
Church  in  that  city.  After  a  course  at  St.  Paul's  College, 
College  Point,  Long  Island,  he  entered  the  Episcopal  General 
Theological  Seminary,  ISTew  York,  and  was  graduated  in  1848. 
He  was  made  a  deacon  in  the  same  year  by  Bishop  Delancey,  at 
Grace  Church,  in  this  city,  and  in  1849  was  made  priest,  by  Bishop 
Doane,  at  Grace  Church,  jS"ewark,  His  first  position  was  as  assistant 
at  the  latter  church,  where  he  remained  from  1848  to  1850.  In  the 
latter  yeor  he  accepted  a  call  to  his  present  rectorship  at  St.  Clement's 
Church,  corner  of  Amity  and  Macdougal  streets. 

This  congregation  was  organized  about  1830.  Public  services 
were  held  in  a  hall  in  Barrow  street,  until  a  church  edifice  was 
erected  on  property  purchased  on  the  corner  of  Amity  and  Mac- 
dougal streets,  then  considered  one  of  the  most  eligible  sites  in  the 
city.  The  first  rector  was  Rev.  Dr.  Lewis  P.  Bayard,  who  was  with 
the  congregation  about  ten  years,  and  during  which  time  it  greatly 
increased,  and  became  one  of  the  most  flourishing  in  New  York. 
Rev.  Dr.  E.  N.  Meade  was  rector  for  about  seven  years,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
C.  S.  Henry  for  three  ^^ears,  the  last  being  succeeded  by  Mr.  Eaton. 
There  are  now  some  three  hundred  communicants,  and  about  one 
hundred  children  in  the  Sunday  school.  This  congregation  has 
experienced  the  vicissitudes  of  all  the  down-town  churches.  The 
up-town  migration  of  the  inhabitants  has  almost  totally  changed  the 
congregation  from  what  it  was  in  former  days,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
impaired  its  numerical  strength  and  influence  in  no  small  degree. 

Mr.  Eaton  is  of  the  average  height,  with  a  rotund,  though  not  dis- 
proportioned  figure.  He  has  a  large,  round  head,  deliSate  features, 
and  fair  complexion;  and,  wliile  he  has  a   considerable  degree  of 


106 


REV.     THEODORE     A.     EATON. 

reserve  and  dignity  about  him,  he  is  sufficiently  genial  to  put  all 
persons  on  easy  terms  with  himself.  He  is  decided  in  his  purposes 
and  firm  in  his  opinions,  but  at  the  same  time  he  is  in  no  measure  to 
be  regarded  as  a  stubborn  or  self-opinionated  person  in  the  common 
acceptation  of  those  terms.  He  has  very  clear  conceptions  of  the 
line  of  duty,  and  his  conscience  is  kept  not  less  clear  by  his  manner 
of  performing  all  that  is  required  of  him.  He  is  not  a  man  of  parade, 
nor  is  he  one  of  an  especially  demonstrative  character,  but  you  are 
never  at  a  loss  to  know  just  where  to  find  him  on  every  question 
and  in  regard  to  every  obligation.  He  is  as  true  as  steel,  honorable 
to  the  letter,  and  faithful  to  the  uttermost.  And  all  this  comes  as  a 
matter  of  course,  for  it  is  simply  his  natural  character.  Such  men 
exercise  the  largest  extent  of  moral  influence.  Where  others  fail 
with  effort,  they  succeed  with  none.  Their  consistency  of  life,  their 
inflexibility  of  character,  and  their  total  want  of  eveiy thing  like  pre- 
sumption, secures  them  the  confidence  of  their  fellows,  and  makes 
them  bright  and  accepted  moral  examples.  In  their  modesty  such 
persons  hardly  understand  their  own  importance.  Their  influence  is 
a  silent  force :  it  is  not  exercised  for  any  selfish  end,  and  it  is  shown 
more  in  their  personal  discipline  and  conduct  than  in  any  otlier  way. 
In  the  case  of  Mr.  Eaton,  his  ministerial  life  is  unobtrusive ;  lie  has 
no  notoriety,  and,  in  fact,  little  public  fame,  and  still  he  has  an 
integrity  of  principle  and  a  purity  of  character  which  have  given 
him  an  importance  and  value  as  a  teacher  and  guide,  with  those  who 
know  him,  far  beyond  that  which  is  allied  to  a  more  prominent 
public  position. 

Mr.  Eaton  is  a  preacher  of  a  thoroughly  sober,  practical  style. 
He  is  never  carried  away  with  his  feelings,  never  shows  the  slightest 
impulsiveness,  but  delivers  calm,  thoughtful,  sensible  lessons  upon 
faith  and  duty.  His  expositions  in  faith  are  particularly  clear  and 
beautiful.  Without  being  illiberal  or  bigoted,  he  is  a  thorough 
churchman,  and  nothing  gives  him  greater  pleasure,  or  more  power- 
fulW  appeals  to  all  his  reasoning  faculties,  than  the  explanation  of 
the  doctrines  of  his  beloved  church.  He  has  a  good  voice,  appro- 
priate gestures,  and  altogether  his  delivery  is  quite  eifective. 

167 


REV.  DAVID   ETNHORI^,   PH.  D., 

rtA-lBBI    OF    TH33   TE]>ir»LE    BETH   EL,  IVEW  YORK:. 


EV.    DR.    DAVID     EINHORN"     was   born   in    Dispec, 
Bavaria,  November  10th,  1809.     He  studied  at  the  Uni- 
versities of  Erlangen,  Wui'zburg,  and  Munchen  from  1828 
vQd^^   to  1834.     He  was  first  connected  with  synagogues  in  the 

Grand  Duchies   of   Birkenfeld   and   Mecklenburg -Schwerin. 

Later  he  became  Rabbi  of  the  Reform  Congregation  at  Pesth, 
whose  synagogue  was  closed  by  order  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  as 
he  regarded  their  reform  doctrines  as  one  of  the  fruits  of  the  revolu- 
lution  of  1848.  Dr.  Binhorn  determined  to  remove  to  the  United 
States,  and  in  1855  reached  Baltimore,  Maryland,  where  he  remained 
in  charge  of  a  synagogue  for  seven  years  and  a  half  He  became 
deeply  interested  in  the  slavery  question,  taking  extreme  abolition 
views,  and  made  himself  very  conspicuous,  and,  to  some  extent,  un- 
popular by  his  preaching  and  writings  on  the  subject.  For  seven 
years  he  published  a  monthly  magazine,  called  Sinai,  devoted  to 
the  cause  of  reform  Judaism,  but  in  which  he  also  wrote  strongly 
against  the  institution  of  slavery.  When  the  war  finally  broke  out 
he  was  obliged  to  leave  Baltimore.  He  then  went  to  Philadel- 
phia, as  rabbi  of  a  prominent  congregation,  where  he  remained  five 
years.  In  1866  he  was  called  to  New  York  to  become  the  first 
rabbi  and  preacher  of  the  congregation  "  Adas  Jeshurun,"  which  was 
organized  at  that  time.  A  spacious  temple  was  built  on  Thirty- 
ninth  street,  near  Seventh  avenue,  which  was  much  improved  in  the 
summer  of  1873. 

In  the  latter  part  of  that  year  arrangements  were  made  for  a 
union  of  the  "  Adas  Jeshurun  "  and  "  Anshi  Chased  "  congregations, 
the  latter  of  which  had  recently  completed  and  dedicated  a  new 
temple  on  the  corner  of  Lexington  avenue  and  Sixty-third  street. 
This  old  congregation  of  New  York  worshiped  originally  in  White 

168 


REV.     DAVID    EINHORN,    PH.D. 

street,  from  which  place  thej  moved  into  Elm  street,  where  they 
built  Their  next  move  was  into  Henry  street,  where  they  also  built, 
but  afterward  sold  their  synagogue  to  another  Jewish  congregation, 
and  in  May,  1850,  dedicated  a  new  house  in  Norfolk  street.  After 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  they  removed  to  the  splendid  temple 
on  Lexington  avenue,  which  was  dedicated  September  12th,  1873, 
and  cost  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  united 
congregations  took  the  name  of  the  Temple  Beth  El,  and  Dr.  Einhorn 
was  elected  to  the  position  of  rabbi. 

Dr.  Einhorn  is  the  author  of  the  "  Olath  Tamid"  a  prayer  book, 
and  the  •'  Ner  Tamtd,^'  a  religious  book.  The  first  passed  through 
three  editions  in  the  Hebrew  and  German,  when  Dr.  Einhorn  issued 
it  in  English  translation,  with  some  emendations.  Another  work  by 
him  in  the  German  is  entitled  ^'-  Das  Priacip  des  Mosaismus."  Many 
of  his  sermons  have  been  issued  in  pamphlet  form  also  in  the 
German. 

Dr.  Einhorn  is  of  the  medium  height  and  sparely  made.  His 
head,  though  not  large,  shows  very  decided  intellectual  development, 
and  his  eyes,  especially,  light  his  face  with  a  striking  and  pleasing  in- 
telligence. In  his  manners  he  is  polite ;  but  it  is  always  to  be  ob- 
served that  he  has  the  seriousness  and  reserve  common  to  scholarly 
men.  He  is  circumspect  and  exact  in  his  own  demeano:-,  and  in 
all  the  duties  of  life.  Consequently  those  who  approach  him  are 
unpressed  by  the  dignity  of  his  bearing  as  well  as  his  learned  and 
exalted  character,  making  his  influence  very  great  with  all  ages  anc^ 
classes. 

He  is  one  of  the  most  advanced  of  the  Judaic  reformers.  In 
Europe  his  views  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  people,  and,  as 
has  been  stated,  were  thought  dangerous  to  monarchical  government 
itself.  Since  his  arrival  in  the  United  States,  he  has  spoken  with 
even  more  power,  and  with  an  enlarged  scope  of  learning,  for  his 
thoughts  were  free,  and  the  field  grand  enough  to  inspire  him  for 
the  utmost  efforts  by  both  energy  and  mind.  A  man  who  was 
willing  to  sacrifice  so  much  for  his  doctrines  at  home,  and  one 
who  resolutely  undertook  a  crusade  against  American  slavery  under 
the  circumstances  which  he  did,  has  certainly  those  qualities  which 
are  most  effective  in  all  reform  movements.  Obstructions,  defeats, 
and  gloom  ar3  all  as  nothing  to  the  brave  and  hopeful  spirit  of  a  re- 
former, like  Dr.  Einhorn  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  act  as  incentives  to  a 
stronger  coui'age  and  a  more  laborious  toil. 

169 


REV.     DAVID    EINHORN,     PH.  D. 

Dr.  Einliorn  is  a  very  interesting  preacher.  He  is  not  only  a 
learned  man,  but  a  very  pious  one.  Hence  he  teaches  with  the  largest 
amount  of  scholarly  explanation,  and  at  the  same  time  imparts  to  all 
that  he  says  the  solemn  impressiveness  belonging  to  religious  truths. 
His  manner  and  tone  are  characterized  by  much  earnestness,  showing 
the  deepest  conviction  in  regard  to  his  subject  on  his  own  part,  and 
his  heartfelt  desire  to  make  the  occasion  profitable  to  those  who  hear 
him.  Modest  in  the  actions  of  his  whole  life,  and  seeking  only  the 
highest  religious  development  of  the  Jewish  people,  and  indirectly  of 
the  community  at  large,  still  his  profound  erudition  and  his  great 
success  entitle  him  to  the  wide  fame  which  he  enjoys. 

170 


REV.  JOSEPH  F.  ELDER. 


p^sTon    OT^    THE  m:a.i>isoiv    j%.ve]vxje    baptist 

CHURCH,    IVE^W    YtJUIt. 


^V.  JOSEPH  F.  ELDER  was  bom  in  Portland,  Maine, 
,'^  March  10th,  1839.  His  academic  studies  were  at  the 
^^L  Portland  High  School,  where  at  an  early  age  he  gave  evi- 
ls' dence  of  considerable  mental  capacity.  In  1860  he  was 
graduated  at  Colby  University,  at  Waterville,  Maine,  which 
«^  was  then  known  by  the  name  of  Waterville  College.  After 
leaving  college  he  engaged  in  teaching.  In  the  autumn  of  1861  he 
was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Free-street  Baptist  Church  of  Portland, 
of  which  he  was  a  member.  Subsequently  he  took  a  theological 
course  at  the  Rochester  University,  from  which  institution  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1867.  He  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  at  North  Orange,  New  Jersey,  May  1st,  1867,  where  he  re- 
mained until  called  to  his  present  pastorship  in  New  York.  He  en- 
tered upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  pastor  of  the  Madison-avenue 
Baptist  Church  January  1st,  1869. 

This  congregation  is  a  union  of  the  Oliver-street  congregation  with 
one  having  originally  the  title  of  the  Madison-avenue  Baptist  Church. 
They  occupy  one  of  the  handsomest  church  edifices  in  the  city  on  the 
corner  of  Madison  avenue  and  Thirty -first  street.  It  is  built  of  brick, 
with  a  square  tower  rising  about  twenty-five  feet  from  the  front  The 
galleries  are  supported  by  a  series  of  Corinthian  columns,  and  the 
whole  arrangement  of  the  interior  is  peculiar  and  tasteful.  One  thous- 
and two  hundred  persons  can  be  accommodated  with  seats.  A  ques- 
tion has  arisen  as  to  which  of  the  original  congregations  hold  the  title 
to  the  property,  which  has  been  for  some  time  before  the  courts  for 
settlement.  It  is  merely  a  legal  point,  not  involving  any  change  or 
unpleasantness  in  the  present  congregation.  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  G.  Wes- 
ton, who,  in  1859,  had  been  called  from  Peoria,  Illinois,  to  the  Oliver- 
street  Church,  became  the  pastor  of  the  new  Madison  avenue,  and  so 
remained  until  1868,  when  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  a  theologi- 
cal seminary.     The  pulpit  was  vacant  until  Mr.   Elder  was  called 


REV.     JOSEPH     F.      ELDER. 

Mr,  Elder  is  of  the  average  heiglit,  with  an  equally  proportioned 
and  erect  figure.  He  has  a  head  of  fair  size  and  form,  with  the  in- 
tellectual peculiarities  most  strikingly  developed.  His  features  are 
regular,  and  expressive  of  amiability  and  decision  of  character.  His 
manners  are  courteous,  but  not  warm.  In  fact,  for  a  young  man,  he 
has  a  great  deal  of  dignity.  He  is  composed  and  assured,  and  seems 
always  to  think  before  he  acts  or  speaks.  He  shows  stamina  of  char- 
acter and  much  self-possession,  but  no  forwardness.  Let  him  advance 
an  opinion,  and  he  will  maintain  it  with  an  intellectual  comprehen- 
sion whicli  no  one  can  dispute ;  or  give  him  a  work  to  perform,  and 
he  will  display  marked  resources  of  judgment  and  nerve.  But  in  the 
same  instances  you  will  be  quite  as  much  struck  with  the  entire 
modesty  of  his  personal  bearing,  and  his  disposition  to  underrate  rather 
than  to  magnify  his  own  ability  and  labors.  He  has  ambition,  but 
it  is  not  a  mere  reckless  zeal  for  position  and  power.  It  is  under  the 
government  of  both  good-breeding  and  sound  reason. 

Never  ashamed  of  his  powers,  and  never  feeble  in  his  mode  of  ac- 
tion, still  he  is  not  disposed  to  thrust  himself  into  prominence.  As 
you  look  into  his  countenance  and  notice  his  half-averted  eyes,  or 
listen  to  his  calm,  measured  utterances,  you  can  have  no  doubt  as  to 
these  traits  of  his  character.  Cheerful  in  disposition,  and  interesting 
in  conversation,  he  is  suffi.ciently  engaging  to  give  zest  to  all  inter- 
course with  him ;  but  you  become  convinced  that  one  great  merit  of 
the  man  is  in  an  inner  nature  of  high  moral  and  intellectual  man- 
hood. 

He  is  a  very  satisfactory  preacher.  He  has  an  earnestness  and 
sincerity  in  his  words  and  manner  which  greatly  impress  the  hearer. 
The  oftener  you  hear  the  better  you  are  pleased.  He  does  not  tire 
you  with  old  sayings,  but  he  has  fresh  ideas,  and  genuine  heart  and 
truth  in  the  application  which  he  makes  of  them.  You  see  that  he  is 
a  student  and  a  thinker,  for  all  that  he  writes  or  says  has  the  strength 
of  scholarly  thought  about  it,  and  you  see  that  he  is  a  keen  ob- 
server of  men  and  the  world's  affairs. 

The  promise  of  his  future  is  biilliant  for  himself  and  the  denomin- 
ation to  which  he  belongs.  Industrious,  well-balanced  in  mind,  dis- 
creet, and  conscientious  in  conduct,  he  may  safely  be  trusted  with  the 
duties  and  obligations  of  the  conspicuous  places  of  the  ministry. 
Conceit,  pride,  and  public  applause  will  never  overthrow  him.  Strict 
in  principle  and  wise  in  judgment,  he  will  stand  strong  in  every  step 
to  a  fame,  won  by  great,  though  always  modest  talents. 

172 


REV.  WILLIAM  T.  ENYARD, 

PASTOR    OF    THI2    IVORTH    TllIJFOIllMED    CHXJRCH. 

BKOOIt  L  Y IV. 


^ 


EV.  WILLIAM  T.  ENYARD  was  born  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  August,  1836.  He  prepared  for  college 
at  the  Academy  at  West  Bloomfield,  New  Jersey ;  was 
graduated  at  Rutger's  College,  New  Brunswick,  in  1855, 
and  at  the  Theological  Seminary  at  the  same  place  in  1858. 
!^  In  the  summer  of  th^  same  year  he  was  ordained,  and  in- 
stalled as  the  pastor  of  St  Paul's  Reformed  Church,  Mott  Haven, 
Westchester  County,  New  York,  where  he  remained  seven  years. 
One  of  the  interesting  circumstances  of  Mr.  Enyard's  ordination  and 
installation  was  that  the  charge  to  the  pastor  was  delivered  by  the 
late  Rev.  Dr.  James  B.  Hardenburg,  who  had  baptized  him  in  his 
infancy,  as  his  parents  were  members  of  the  old  Franklin  Street  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church,  of  which  Dr.  Hardenburg  was  so  long  the 
pastor.  Mr.  En3'ard's  ministerial  labors  gave  great  promise  from  the 
outset.  A  young  man  of  marked  talents,  unwearying  energy,  and 
popalar  manners,  his  work  was  earnest  and  efficacious  in  the  highest 
degree.  At  length  he  received  a  call  to  the  pastorship  of  tlie  North 
Reformed  Church,  located  on  Clermont  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  as  the 
successor  of  the  distinguished  (now  deceased)  Rev.  Dr.  Anthony 
Elmendorf,  which  he  accepted.  His  official  connection  with  this 
church  commenced  in  August,  1865,.  and  on  Tuesday  evening,  Oc- 
tober 24th,  1865,  he  was  duly  installed. 

The  North  Reformed  Church  is  the  result  of  the  pious  labors  of 
Dr.  Elmendorf  In  1848  he  accepted  a  call  to  Brooklyn  from  the 
Bedford  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  After  a  service  of  two  years  and 
a  half  he  resigned  the  pastorship,  and  the  organization  was  subse- 
quently altogether  abandoned.  Dr.  Elmendorf  now  entered  upon 
what  was  the  great  work  of  his  life.  In  March,  1851,  he  commenced 
religious  services  in  a  small  frame  building  in  Adelphi  Street,  which 
he  had  hired  at  a  weekly  rent  of  five  dollars ;  and,  in  the  following 

173 


REV.     WILLIAM     T.      ENYARD. 

j\ray,  tlie  North  Reformed  Dutch  Churcl]  was  organized,  with  thirty- 
seven  members.  At  the  period  named,  the  population  of  that  section 
of  Brooklyn  was  exceedingly  small  and  scattei-ed,  and  the  prospects 
of  the  new  congregation  for  several  years  were  exceedingly  unfavor- 
able. It  was  nothing  but  the  devoted  self-sacrifice  and  indomitable 
perseverance  of  the  pastor  that  kept  the  enterprise  from  coming  to  a 
premature  termination.  After  all  the  expenses  were  paid,  Dr.  Elm- 
endorfs  salary  for  the  first  year  was  twenty-seven  dollars  and  fiftj'- 
cents.  He  was  driven  to  the  necessity  of  mortgaging  his  private 
property.  He  stated  to  the  writer  hereof,  just  prior  to  his  death,  in 
alluding  to  these  trials,  that  at  times  he  was  discouraged  to  perfect 
sickness  of  heart,  yet  never  to  utter  despondency.  At  length  lots 
were  procured,  and  on  May  30th,  1852,  a  chapel  was  dedicated.  Affairs 
were  now  in  such  a  condition  that  he  received  a  regular  call  to  be  the 
pastor  of  the  congregation,  and  his  installation  took  place  July  ith, 
1852.  He  had  been  invited  to  a  flourishing  church  in  Philadelphia, 
but  he  declined  the  invitation.  In  1858  his  health  failed  him,  and 
he  went  abroad,  spending  six  months  in  agreeable  travel  in  Great 
Britain  and  on  the  continent. 

The  corner-stone  of  a  fine  church  edifice  on  Clermont  Avenue  was 
laid  June  25th,  1855,  and  the  church  was  dedicated  on  tlie  27th  of  the 
following  December.  The  property  cost  about  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars.  An  encumbrance  of  five  thousand  dollars  remained  until 
January,  1864,  when  it  was  discharged,  leaving  the  church  free  from 
debt.  Within  a  recent  period,  sine '  the  calling  of  Mr.  Enyard,  the 
church  has  been  much  improved,  both  in  the  exterior  and  interior, 
A  large  sum  was  spent  in  these  improvements,  making  the  building 
compare  favorably  with  any  of  the  other  fine  churches  for  which 
Brooklyn  is  noted. 

During  Dr.  Elmendorf's  ministry,  the  number  of  members  reached 
as  high  as  nearly  five  hundred,  and  the  Sunday-School  had  between 
six  and  seven  hundred  children.  Two  remarkable  revivals  took 
place,  and  seventy-five  persons  were  admitted  at  one  communion. 
Broken  in  health,  Dr.  Elmendorf  retired  from  the  pastorship  in  May, 
1865,  and  in  the  following  February  closed  his  noble  life  in  a 
Christian  death.  There  are  now  about  five  hundred  and  forty 
members,  and  the  Sunday-School  has  between  four  and  five  hundred 
children. 

Mr.  Enyard  is  tall,  well-proportioned,  and  erect.  He  moves  with 
a  quick  stride  and  a  firm  step,  and  it  is  easy  to  detect  that  he  is  a 

174 


REV.     WILLIAM     T.     ENYAED. 

man  of  an  earnest  heart  and  nntiring  energy  in  all  that  he  undertakes- 
His  head  is  large  in  the  intellectual  part,  with  delicate  and  expressive 
features.  His  complexion  is  rather  pale,  as  his  application  to  study 
is  constant  and  severe.  Few  persons  have  more  agreeable  manners. 
He  is  frank  and  genial  with  all.  There  is  no  departure  from  a  proper 
ministerial  dignitv,  but  he  has  a  most  happy  tact  in  rendering  all 
personal  intercourse  pleasing  in  the  extreme.  In  truth,  he  is  always 
found  an  illustration  of  those  lines  of  Pope,  who  describes  the  accom- 
plished man  as 

"Correct  with  spirit,  eloquent  with  ease, 
Intent  to  reason,  or  polite  to  jilease." 

His  conversation  is  flowing  and  interesting.  A  religious  life  has  not 
robbed  him  of  a  particle  of  a  natural  vivacity  and  cheerfulness  that 
belong  to  him ;  and,  consequently,  he  gives  life  and  animation  to 
every  social  scene  in  which  he  takes  part.  And  still,  he  is  well 
schooled  in  propriety.  He  is  never  led  away  into  compromises  of 
dignity,  or  of  forgetfulness  of  his  sacred  calling,  bnt  always  commands 
the  utmost  respect  from  old  and  young.  The  fact  is,  he  is  not  only 
an  amiable,  but  a  strong  character.  Men  with  the  weight  of  years 
and  far  more  experience,  have  no  advantage  of  him  in  resolution  and 
judgment.  All  his  impulses  of  both  mind  and  heart  are  under  per- 
fect government.  He  speaks  his  thoughts  on  the  instant,  and  he  acts 
as  if  fi'om  mere  impulse,  but  he  is  really  thoroughly  reflective  in  re- 
gaixl  to  both  words  and  acts.  His  mind  is  keen,  i-apid,  and  far-seeing ; 
and  in  small  as  well  as  great  matters  controls  the  entire  man.  Well 
informed  on  learned  and  ordinary  topics,  a  close  and  discriminating 
observer  of  men  and  events,  amiable  and  gentle  in  all  his  ways,  Mr. 
Envard  is  a  person  well  calculated  to  win  esteem  and  influence  in 
private  life.  Those  who  come  in  contact  with  him  are  refreshed  in 
heart  and  enlightened  in  mind.  Impressed  with  his  personal  quali- 
ties, they  cannot  fail  likewise  to  respect  and  admire  him  in  his  pro- 
fessional character. 

As  a  preacher  he  has  always  enjoyed  a  wide  jDopularity.  In  his 
sermons  he  gives  solid  food  for  reflection,  and  at  the  same  time  shows 
a  chaste  and  animated  fancy.  He  is  fully  alive  to  the  progressive 
and  practical  spirit  of  the  period  in  which  he  lives,  and  though  he 
received  his  early  training  under  the  most  old-time  theological  influ- 
ences, he  is  not  willing  to  be  a  dead  man  in  a  living  age.  His  youth, 
his  ambition,  and  his  intelligence  all  lead  him  to  a  mental  and  active 
alliance  with  the  real  issues  of  life  as  he  finds  it  about  him.     Hence 

175 


REV.     WILLIAM     T.      ENYARD. 

wliile  no  man  can  be  more  ardent  and  explicit  in  the  discussion  of 
topics  of  doctrine,  bis  chief  excellence  is  in  grasping  the  moral  and 
other  questions  which  relate  to  the  joys  and  ills  of  daily  life  and  the 
public  need.  You  are  invariably  struck  with  several  things  in  these 
sermons.  First,  that  the  preacher  has  a  great  lieart  in  S3mipathy  with 
his  fellow-men ;  second,  that  he  is  bold  and  outspoken  in  his  opin- 
ions; and  third,  that  a  devout  piety  governs  all  his  views  and  actions. 
He  writes  in  those  plain,  forcible  terms,  that  are  unmistakable  in  their 
meaning  and  application,  and  he  gives  to  every  utterance  the  earnest- 
ness and  fervor  which  spring  from  heartfelt  conviction.  His  sermons 
draw  men  together  in  fellowship  by  interests  perhaps  before  un- 
known. He  opens  the  heart  of  the  hearer  to  nobler  emotions,  and 
softens  and  strengthens  the  feelings  for  better  and  higher  purposes. 
He  illuminates  Christian  principles,  he  makes  clear  the  responsibili- 
ties of  man  to  his  fellow  and  his  God,  and  he  tries  human  motives 
and  actions  by  the  scale  of  justice,  virtue,  and  mercy.  A  man  who 
preaches  from  these  standpoints  cannot  preach  in  vain.  He  stretches 
out  a  net  into  which  the  human  feet  must  become  entangled,  and  he 
utters  an  appeal  before  which  the  human  heart  is  melted  and  won. 

Mr.  Enyard  speaks  with  eloquence  and  eflectiveness.  His  attitude 
is  erect,  and  his  glance  is  unflinching  before  the  multitude.  He  be- 
gins in  a  moderate  tone,  but  with  entire  self-possession.  But  you 
soon  see  the  fire  that  is  in  him ;  there  is  no  indifference  and  no  mo- 
notony; he  feels  every  word,  and  each  sentiment  produces  a  new 
tone  and  its  appropriate  gesture.  His  voice  is  strong,  but  he  modu- 
lates it  with  gi-eat  effect.  In  prayer  and  in  reading  it  is  equally  fine. 
Its  effect  upon  the  largest  audience  is  magnetic.  Mild  and  yet  vig- 
orous, sympathetic  and  yet  decided,  it  at  once  arrests  attention,  and 
the  interest  of  the  hearer  is  continued  to  the  end.  His  delivery  has 
no  appearance  of  study,  though  he  has  undoubtedl}' found  his  models 
in  the  best  exponents  of  oratory. 

From  these  statements  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Enyard  is  a  man 
of  superior  talents,  and  of  rare  usefulness  in  his  denomination  and 
the  community  at  large.  A  commissioned  teacher  of  divine  things, 
he  is  not  less  a  judicious  leader  of  the  people  in  every  other  good 
work.  Strict  and  jealous  in  his  faith,  exact  and  faithful  in  the  line 
of  duty,  just  and  pure  in  his  personal  character,  he  meets  all  the  re- 
quirements of  his  profession,  and  stands  before  his  fellow-men  a 
bright  example  of  individual  excellence. 

176 


REV.  FERDINAND  C.  EWER,  D.  D., 

CHURCH,    jVEW^    YOKlt. 


EV.  DR.  FERDINAND  C.  EWER  was  horn  in  Nantucket, 
May  22d,  1826.  His  parents  were  Unitai-ians,  but  by  the 
time  lie  was  seventeen  years  of  age  he  had  given  the  sub- 
ject ofUnitarianism,  and,  indeed,  the  wliole  field  of  theol- 
ogy, a  careful  investigation,  which  resulted  in  his  becoming  an 
Episcopalian,  and  he  was  baptized  at  Trinity  Church,  Nantucket, 
in  1843.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  the  class  of 
1848.  During  his  term  at  the  University,  an  imprudent  course  of 
reading  led  him  to  embrace  infidelit}'.  In  April,  1849,  he  went  to 
San  Francisco,  where,  in  1852,  he  again  addressed  himself  to  a  serious 
and  prolonged  examination  of  the  claims  of  the  Bible,  and  finally 
found  himself  restored  to  his  earlier  and  happier  trust  in  divine  rev- 
elation. He  shortly  commenced  his  studies  for  the  Episcopal  minis- 
try under  the  direction  of  Bishop  Kipp,  and  on  Palm  Sunday,  April 
5th,  1857,  was  ordained  deacon,  and  became  assistant  to  Bishop  Kipp, 
as  rector  of  Grace  Church,  San  Francisco.  On  the  resignation  of  the 
Bishop  as  rectoi-  in  December,  Dr.  Ewer  was  elected  to  the  position, 
and  on  the  17th  of  January,  was  ordained  priest.  In  1850,  by  reason 
of  ill-health,  he  offered  his  resignation,  the  acceptance  of  which  was 
declined,  and  leave  of  absence  for  one  year  granted  to  him.  He 
reached  New  York  in  May,  and,  by  advice  of  his  physicians,  de- 
termined not  to  return  to  California.  His  resignation  of  his  charge 
in  San  Francisco  having  been  accepted,  he  became  assistant  of  Rev, 
Dr.  Gallaudet,  at  St.  Ann's  Church,  New  York,  when  he  was  called 
to  the  rectorship  of  Christ  Church,  corner  of  Fifth  avenue  and  Thirty- 
fifth  street. 

Dr.  Ewer  received  the  degree  of  A.  B.  from  Harvard  University, 
in  1848 ;  S.  T.  D.  or  D.  D.  from  Columbia  College,  in  1867,  and 
A.  M.  from  Harvard  University,  in  1868. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1868,  he  preached  a  coui'se  of  eight  sermons 

177 


KEV.     FERDHSTAND     C.     EWER,     D.  D. 

on  the  "  Failure  of  Protestanism,"  which  led  to  much  discussion,  and 
were  afterward  published  in  book  form  by  the  Appletons.  Later 
Dr.  Ewer  took  a  position  among  the  ritualistic  class,  in  the  Episcopal 
Church,  to  which  he  still  adheres.  He  has  been  violently  attacked 
by  both  Protestants  and  Eomanists.  The  Bishop  of  Connecticut 
threatened,  in  an  official  letter,  to  try  him  for  a  sermon  preached  in 
that  diocese,  in  which  Dr.  Ewer  spoke  of  seven  sacraments,  and  par- 
ticularly of  penance.  This  caused  a  correspondence,  in  which  Dr. 
Ewer  claimed  that  the  Anglican  Church  held  to  the  seven  sacra- 
ments, and  gave  commands  to  her  priests,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, to  administer  the  sacrament  of  penance,  and  had,  indeed,  al- 
ways advised  her  people  to  use  that  sacrament.  Subsequently  the 
Bishop  withdrew  fi'om  his  position  to  try  Dr.  Ewer,  and  friends  of  the 
latter  published  the  whole  correspondence  in  pamphlet  form. 

Internal  difficulties  in  Christ  Church  congregation,  induced  Dr. 
Ewer  to  resign  the  rectorship  in  the  latter  part  of  1872.  As  soon  as 
he  did  so,  parishioners  of  that  parish  left  it,  organized  the  new  parish 
of  St.  Ignatius,  and  gave  him  a  call  to  it.  xi  majority  of  his  old 
communicants  then  joined  the  new  organization.  A  chu.rch  edifice 
was  purchased  on  "West  Fortieth  street,  where  worsliip,  according  to 
the  high  church  ritual,  is  regularly  conducted. 

While  in  California,  Dr.  Ewer  was  a  pioneer  in  the  establish- 
ment of  newspaper  and  periodical  literature.  lie  founded  the  Pacific 
News,  a  daily  paper  ;  the  /Sacramento  Transcript,  also  a  daily  journal ; 
the  Sunday  Dispatcli,  in  San  Francisco,  and  in  January,  1851,  the 
Pioneer,  the  first  magazine  ever  published  in  the  State.  He  married 
in  California,  in  December,  1854. 

At  the  invitation  of  the  Seventh  Eegiment,  Dr.  Ewer  delivered 
an  oration  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  on  the  22d  of  February,  1862, 
taking  for  his  theme  the  "  Wond's  Obligations  to  War.".  The  oration 
was  most  masterly  ana  eloquent  He  has  also  delivered  orations, 
addresses,  and  sermons  on  other  occasions  of  public  interest. 

Dr.  Ewer  is  of  tall  stature,  well-proportioned,  and  erect.    His  head 

is  large,    with   regular   and  intellectual  features.      He   wears  long 

whiskers,  which  somewhat  lengthen  the  face,  and  long,  straight,  dark 

hair  grows  in  much  abundance  on  his  head.     His  countenance  is  full 

of  expression — full  of  the  light  of  the  brilliant  mind  within — full  of 

the  language  of  a  kindly,  upright  heart,  and  full  of  the  glow  of  the 

energy  which  is  inborn  to  the  man.     Ripe  in  scholarship,  enthusiastic 

in  life's  battles,  warm  and  genial  in  his  nature,  his  characteristics  are 

178 


REV.     FERDINAND     C.      EWER,     D.  D. 

those  wliicli  captivate  the  intelligence,  quicken  the  resolution,  and 
open  the  fountains  of  esteem.  In  his  manners  he  is  cordial  and  sin- 
cere ;  in  private  life  he  exhibits,  in  its  largest  degree,  the  polish  of 
social  culture,  and  in  his  public  station  he  reaches  the  highest  stand- 
ard of  ministerial  ability  and  usefulness.  His  conversation  is  fluent 
and  animated,  showing  great  familiarity  with  religions  and  secular 
topics,  and  abounding  in  beauties  of  thought,  and  manly,  liberal  sen- 
timents. 

Dr.  Ewer  is  a  powerful  and  finished  writer.  Once  an  editor,  he 
wields  a  practiced  pen,  and  delights  in  the  task  of  composition.  In 
his  varied  and  always  busy  life,  the  themes  of  his  pen  have  been 
widely  different ;  but  in  all  his  writings  there  is  to  be  seen  the  same 
originality  of  idea,  pointedness  of  meaning,  and  eloquence  of  diction. 
His  sermons  are  characterized  by  a  particularly  impassioned  fervor, 
and  a  marked  comprehensiveness  of  argument.  And  while  eveiy 
line  sw^ells  with  the  beatings  of  his  own  earnest  heart,  every  precept 
is  taken  for  a  lamp  to  his  own  feet. 

There  are  clergymen  who  think  that  the  announcement  of  the 
truth  in  the  simplest  and  most  unassuming  forms  of  speech  and  man- 
ner is  all  that  their  congregation  can  require.  Engaged  in  a  conflict 
with  a  foe  who  appeals  with  consummate  aH  to  every  human  emotion, 
still  they  do  not  esteem  it  necessary  to  kindle  the  same  instincts  with 
the  same  flame  of  enthusiasm.  They  preach  to  benumbed  souls  and 
sleeping  congregations,  and  wonder  that  their  work  is  so  ban-en, 
knowing  not  that  it  is  because  the  susceptibilities  of  theii*  hearers  are 
never  aroused.  Mr.  Ewer's  policy  is  diiferent :  he  takes  the  homely, 
oft-repeated  truths,  and  decks  them  in  new  garments ;  he  crowns 
them  with  flowers ;  he  displays  them  so  that  their  new  glory  sufl'uses 
the  careless  mind  and  awakens  the  dormant  heart.  Most  imposing 
in  his  pulpit  presence,  speaking  in  a  clear,  musical  voice,  collected 
and  perfect  in  his  declamation  and  gesticulation,  every  word  that  he 
utters  speeds  like  an  electric  shock  to  some  sensibility,  and  every 
action  is  profoundly  expressive  of  his  meaning.  He  is  an  orator,  with 
inspiring  words  and  startling  attitudes  which  sway  and  animate  and 
control  the  multitude ;  he  is  a  Christian  warrior,  meeting  the  adver- 
sary in  glittering  armor,  and  with  a  gleaming  blade;  he  is  the  faith- 
ful servant  who,  with  mind,  heart,  eloquence,  and  every  power  of  liis 
nature  is  gaining  treasure  of  souls,  for  the  days  of  the  Master's  reckon- 

incr.  17S 


REY.  FREDERICK  A.  FARLEY,  D.  D., 

OF"    TiROOJ^lLmS. 


EV.  DR  FEEDERICK  A.  FARLEY  was  born  in  Boston 
W  June  25th,  1800.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  Univer- 
sity in  1818,  and,  after  studjinsf  law  with  Hon.  William 
Sullivan,  was  admitted  to  the  Boston  bar  in  1821.  Sub- 
sequently graduated  at  the  Divinity  School,  Cambridge,  he 
was  first  settled  as  a  pastor  over  the  Westminster  Congrega- 
tional Unitarian  Church  of  Providence,  September  10th,  1828.  Dr. 
Channing  preached  the  ordination  sermon,  which  was  one  of  his 
most  remarkable  efforts.  Here  Dr.  Farley  remained  until  called  to 
Brooklyn  in  1841.  He  has  published  a  volume  of  lectures,  entitled 
"  Unitarianism  Defined;"  and,  in  joint  authorship  wnth  Rev.  Dr. 
Osgood,  a  liturgic  service-book,  entitled  "  Christian  Worship,"  and 
the  "  Vesper  Book,"  being  the  vesper  service  from  the  former  volume. 
He  is  a  learned  man,  an  eloquent  preacher,  and  an  esteemed  and 
public-spirited  citizen  of  Brooklyn.  Denied  the  use  of  a  church  for 
his  installation  on  his  first  coming,  he  has  since  taken  a  leading  part 
in  directing  her  intellectual  and  social  character,  and  advanced  a 
humble  body  of  despised  believers  to  a  powerful  and  respected  con- 
gregation. 

The  earliest  organization  of  Unitarians  in  Brooklyn  took  place 
in  1833.  The  First  Society  worshiped  in  Classical  Hall,  Wash- 
ington street,  and  was  under  the  care  of  Rev.  David  H.  Barlow.  Four 
years  later.  Rev.  F.  W.  Holland  became  the  pastor,  and  the  place  of 
worship  was  changed  to  a  church  in  Adams  street,  purchased  of  the 
Presbyterians.  A  Second  Society  was  formed  in  January,  1841, 
which  met  at  the  Brooklyn  Institute,  where  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Farley 
commenced  to  ofiiciate  August  1st,  1841.  In  the  following  Decem- 
ber, Mr.  Holland  resigned  his  charge.  On  the  first  Sunday  in  April, 
1842,  the  two  societies  united  in  worship  at  the  Brooklyn  Institute, 
leading  to  their  consolidation  under  the  title  of  the  First  Congrega' 

180 


EEV.      FREDERICK     A.     FARLEY,     D,  D. 

tional  Unitarian  Society  of  Brooklyn.  On  the  31st  of  May,  Mr. 
Farley  was  called  as  the  pastor  of  the  new  organization,  a  new  election 
having  taken  place  at  his  own  desira  A  site  was  purchased  on  the 
corner  of  Pierrepont  street  and  Monroe  Place,  and  a  beautiful  Gothic 
brown-stone  church  erected,  which  was  consecrated  as  the  "  Church 
of  the  Saviour"  April  24th,  1844.  Mr.  Fai'ley's  installation  had 
been  deferred,  and  now  took  place  on  the  day  following  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  church,  Dr.  Dewey  preaching  the  sermon.  The  edifice 
was  erected  during  a  period  of  financial  depression,  and  the  cost  of 
the  entire  property  was  only  about  forty  thousand  dollars.  Within 
a  few  years  the  entire  debt  has  been  paid,  and  there  is  a  surplus  fund. 
The  congregation  is  one  of  the  most  wealthy  in  Bi'ooklyn,  and  is 
composed  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  communicants  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  families.  On  the  22d  of  March,  1868,  Dr.  Farley 
resigned,  having  reached  the  ripe  age  of  nearly  sixty-three  yeare,  and 
the  twenty-second  of  his  highly  successful  ministrj-.  His  resignation 
was  accepted  with  reluctance,  and  only  when  it  was  found  impossible 
to  move  him  from  his  purpose  of  retirement.  A  generous  pecuniary 
provision  was  made  for  his  suppor  ,  and  an  eligible  pew  placed  at 
his  disposal.  By  request  of  the  congregation  he  remained  in  tem- 
poi'ary  charge  until  the  1st  of  November,  when  his  farewell  sermon 
was  preached.  Dr.  Farley  now  occasionally  supplies  the  pulpits  of 
his  absent  brethren.  He  has  also  given  some  readings,  much  to  the 
pleasure  of  large  and  cultivated  audiences, 

181 


PiEY.  THOMAS  FARRELL, 

PA.STOK     OF    THE     CHTJRCil     OF      ST.    JOSEPJH, 
(CA-TIIOLIC,)     NEM^    YORJS. 


'EV.  THOMAS  FAERELL  was  born  at  Longford,  Ire- 
land,  in  the  year  1820,  and  came  to  the  United  States 
in  his  childhood.     He  was  graduated  at  Mount  St.  Mary's 

fv^v;^  College,  Emmettsburg,  Maryland,  and  was  ordained  priest 
in  1847.  At  first  he  was  engaged  in  missionary  work.  He 
then  became  pastor  of  St  Paul's  church,  Harlem,  and  afterward 
of  St.  Mary's  in  Grand,  street  In  all  of  these  positions  he  was  dis- 
tinguished for  an  earnestness  and  pietj'-  which  gave  him  an  unusual 
measure  of  success. 

He  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  church  of  St  Joseph,  corner  of 
Sixth  avenue  and  Washington  place,  in  1857.  During  the  sixteen 
years  which  he  has  now  occupied  the  pastorship  of  this  old  and  in- 
fluential congregation,  his  course  has  been  consistent  with  his  pre- 
vious character,  and  he  has  established  a  reputation  as  a  priest  and 
scholar  equal  to  any  of  his  clerical  cotemporaries  in  the  city.  He 
became  conspicuous  at  the  time  of  the  civil  war  for  his  earnest  and 
uncompromising  advocacy  of  the  Union  cause,  and  his  hostility  to 
human  slavery. 

An  authentic  account  of  Father  Farrell  says : — "  As  a  scholar  and 
theologian,  he  is  ranked  among  tlie  foremost  divines  of  the  Catholic 
church  in  the  United  States.  As  a  preacher,  he  belongs  moreio  the 
solid  than  the  brilliant  order.  As  a  great  lover  of  truth,  he  is  known 
and  beloved  by  men  of  all  denominations  for  his  noble  qualities  of 
heart  and  mind.  Among  his  brethren  of  the  clergy  he  is  looked  up 
to  with  the  greatest  respect  and  affection  ;  so  much  so,  that  it  is  re- 
markable how  many  go  to  him  for  counsel  and  advice,  and  what  im- 
plicit faitli  they  place  in  his  judgment  and  understanding." 

Father  Farrell  has  a  long,  narrow  face,  with  a  high  forehead.     The 

182 


REV.     THOMAS     FARRELL. 

expression  is  calm,  serious,  and  reflective.  His  manners  have  the  mod 
esty  and  gentleness  befitting  the  priestly  character.  He  is  thoroughly 
religious,  and  elevated  in  all  his  feelings  and  opinions.  A  patient  life- 
work,  without  show  or  thought  of  himself,  but  one  in  which  he  should 
do  the  utmost  for  his  faith  and  his  fellow  men,  has  been  the  sole 
purpose  of  his  existence.  No  man  can  charge  that  he  has  fallen  short 
of  his  whole  duty  ;  and,  with  this  consciousness,  he  is  passing  serenely 
onward  with  the  quick  revolving  years. 

183 


REV.  ISAAC  FERRIS,   D.D.,  LL.D.,* 

EMIERITUS  CHA.iVCEI^3L.OK,   OF   THE!   XJlVIVERlSITY 
OF    TME    ClIT^   OF    IVE\^   YOPtlt. 


EY.  DR.  FERRIS,  Emeritus  Chancellor  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  City  of  New  York,  was  born  in  New  York, 
in  October,  1798.  His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  at 
Fairfield,  Connecticut.  He  was  graduated  at  Columbia 
College,  New  York,  when  not  quite  eighteen  years  of  age. 
He  became  a  teacher  of  the  classics,  but  after  a  year  spent 
in  this  manner  be  entered  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  New  Brunswick,  having  determined  upon 
a  ministerial  career.  A  portion  of  his  theological  studies  was  pur- 
sued under  the  distinguished  Rev.  Dr.  Jolm  M.  Mason,  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  In  May,  1820,  when  something  past  his  twenty- 
first  year,  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  already  gave  evidence  of 
unusual  talents.  He  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church  at  New  Brunswick,  April  17th,  1821,  and  was 
very  successful  in  it.  In  the  autumn  of  1824  he  became  pastor  of 
the  Second  Dutch  Church  in  Albany,  where  he  remained  eleven 
years.  He  had  always  given  the  heartiest  co-operation  in  all  educa- 
tional movements,  and  during  his  residence  in  Albany  was  chosen 
President  of  the  celebrated  Female  Academy  at  that  place,  which 
was  the  model,  and,  in  fact,  the  parent  of  most  of  the  other  institu- 
tions of  the  kind  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  In  1836  he  was 
called  to  the  Market  street  Dutch  Church,  New  York,  where  for 
many  years  he  conducted  a  most  efiicient  and  successful  ministry. 
He  found  the  congregation  much  reduced  by  internal  differences  and 
burdened  by  debt,  but  he  succeeded  in  restoring  harmony,  increasing 
the  body  numerically,  and  in  paying  off  the  entire  indebtedness. 

*  While  our  volume  was  in  press,  Dr.  Ferris  departed  this  life  at  Roselle,  N.  J., 
on  Monday,  June  16th,  1873,  aged  seventy-five  years,  and  was  buried  from  the  South 
Reformed  Church,  New  York,  on  the  20th  of  June. 

184 


REV.     ISAAC    FEKRIS,    D.  D.,    LL.D. 

Ever  on  the  alert  to  further  the  cause  of  education,  he  induced 
the  late  William  B.  Crosby,  a  wealthy  resident  of  the  Seventh  ward, 
to  make  a  gift  of  valuable  property  in  Madison  street,  where  was 
founded,  in  1838,  the  afterward  famous  school,  known  as  the 
Rutgers  Female  Institute.  As  President  of  this  institution.  Dr.  Ferris 
raised  it  to  the  highest  point  of  success,  and  gave  it  an  unequaled 
reputation  all  over  the  land  for  its  superior  system  of  instruction. 
At  a  later  period  he  witlidrew  from  the  Eutgers  Institute  and  founded 
the  Ferris  Institute. 

In  1852  a  movement  was  made  to  invite  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
Bethune  to  the  Chancellorship  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  ISTew 
York,  but  he  declined  the  position,  and  urged  that  it  should  be  given 
to  Dr.  FeiTis.  Accordingly,  in  November  of  that  year,  Dr.  Ferris 
was  appointed  Chancellor,  and  his  acceptance  was  hailed  with  great 
satisfa'ction  by  all  the  friends  of  the  institution.  The  institution  was 
pecuniaril}^  involved  to  the  extent  of  about  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  but  by  the  most  earnest  and  untiring  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  new  Chancellor  these  liabilities  were  in  six  months  entirely  pro- 
vided for.  The  final  payment  of  the  entire  indebtedness  was  made  in 
1854.  Later,  the  University,  through  renewed  efforts  on  the  part  of 
Dr.  Ferris,  received  several  liberal  benefactions.  Two  gentlemen  of 
the  Council  gave  twenty-five  thousand  each,  Mr.  Loring  Andrews 
gave  one  hundred  thousand,  and  other  gentlemen  various  sums. 
Thus  six  professorships  were  endowed. 

The  large  amount  of  over  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  was 
secured  to  the  University  during  the  term  of  Chancellor  Ferris. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Immediately  after  the  payment  of  the  debt 
he  submitted  to  the  Council  a  plan  for  the  expansion  of  the  Univer- 
sity course,  the  result  of  which  was  the  establishment  of  a  School  of 
Art,  one  of  Analytical  and  Practical  Chemistry,  one  of  Civil  En- 
gineering, and  the  revival  of  that  of  Law ;  that  of  Medicine  having 
been  in  operation  since  1841.  These  departments  were  established, 
and  the  subsequent  endowments  secured  their  pennanent  efficiency. 

In  1870,  after  eighteen  years  of  faithfiil  service,  and  finding  the 
University  on  a  secure  foundation  for  all  time,  Dr.  Ferris  retired 
from  the  active  duties  of  Chancellor,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Howard  Crosby.  He  is  now  Emeritus  Chancellor,  and  receives 
three  thousand  dollars  per  annum  for  life.  On  his  retii'ement  an 
address  was  presented  to  him,  signed  by  a  large  number  of  the 
distinguished  Alumni,  which  closes  in  these  complimentary  tarms: 

185 


REV.     ISAAC    FERRIS,    D.  D.,    LL.D. 

'•Tour  wise  and  considerate  care  has  resulted  in  a  decrease  of  daily  labor  for  the 
professors,  and  an  increase  of  more  than  a  hundred  per  cent,  to  their  salaries ;  has 
opened  facilities  for  the  incoming  of  students  from  adjacent  neighborhoods,  by 
which  the  number  of 'undergraduates  has  decidedly  increased;  has  sought  and  ob- 
tained the  material  for  replenishing  the  scanty  means  of  indigent  students;  and  over 
against  the  facilities  derived  from  vast  endowments  or  legislated  immunities  by  rival 
institutions,  you  have  administered  the  affairs  of  the  University  with  sagacious 
fidelity,  shrinking  from  no  toil  or  responsibility,  and  refusing  the  indulgence  of  the 
rest  which  was  your  just  due. 

"You  retire  by  your  own  voluntary  act  from  your  eminent  position  with  this 
noble  record. 

"The  undersigned  Alumni  express  to  you  hereby  their  sense  of  your  worth,  their 
admiration  and  appi'eciation  of  your  success,  their  gratification  at  the  procedure  of 
the  Council  in  providing  for  the  comfort  of  your  remaining  days,  their  personal 
affection,  and  their  prayer  for  Heaven's  best  benediction  upon  you." 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  if  Dr.  Ferris  has  one  characteristic 
more  than  another,  it  is  regard  and  labor  for  the  Sunday  School 
caiise.  For  over  thirty  years  he  has  been  President  of  the  New 
York  Sunday  School  Union.  He  preached  an  eloquent  historical 
sermon  on  its  fiftieth  anniversary. 

He  also  preached  the  semi-centennial  sermon  of  the  American 
Bible  Society.  In  1871  he  preached  a  memorial  discourse  at  the 
Reformed  Church  in  New  Brunswick  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  commencement  of  his  ministry  at  that  place. 

His  publications  consist  chiefly  of  numerous  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses. He  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Union  College  in 
1834,  and  that  of  LL.  D.  from  Columbia  College  in  1854. 

Dr.  Ferris  is  tall,  with  a  well-proportioned  figure,  now  slightly 
bent  with  advancing  years.  His  head  is  round  and  finely  developed 
in  the  intellectual  sections.  He  has  a  broad,  high,  noble  looking 
brow,  and  his  countenance  is  radiant  with  intellectuality,  benevo- 
lence, and  the  higher  traits  of  manly  character.  His  features  are 
regular;  he  has  calm,  expressive  eyes,  and  his  hair  is  silver  gray. 
In  his  face  you  may  read  his  heart  and  character  at  a  glance  ;  it  con- 
ceals nothing,  but,  on  the  contrary,  reveals  everything.  You  see  that 
he  has  a  firm  and  even  heroic  purpose ;  that  when  he  puts  his  hand 
to  the  plow  he  turns  not  back  ;  that  he  has  a  most  exalted  regard  for 
truth  and  honor  in  all  the  affairs  and  duties  of  life ;  that  he  is  not 
only  an  upright,  but  a  moral  and  holy  man ;  and  finally  that  he  has  a 
benevolence  of  heart  and  a  serenity  of  temper  which  are  not  less 
natural  to  him  than  his  gifts  of  intellect     Greatly  absorbed  as  he  ia 

in  his  duties  as  an  instructor,  and  in  the  manifold  claims  ur)on  his 

186 


REV.     ISAAC    FERRIS,    D.  D.,   LL.D. 

time  by  the  many  educational  and  religious  enterprises  with  which 
he  is  connected,  still  he  is  always  a  genial  companion  with  all  ages 
of  persons.  Ciaeerful,  fully  alive  to  all  the  charms  of  social  inter- 
course, and  withal  so  full  of  instruction,  so  perfect  as  an  example  of 
Christian  manhood,  association  with  him  is  at  once  delightful  and 
profitable. 

The  jjhrenological  character  of  Dr.  Ferris  has  been  given  as 
follows :  "  In  Dr.  Ferris  an  air  of  serenity  prevails.  This  distin- 
guished man  should  be  specially  known  for  his  mildness  and'  calm 
dignity.  There  is  considerable  breadth  between  the  anterior  portions 
of  the  side  head,  which  shows  that  he  is  not  deficient  in  expedient, 
buc  rather  disposed  to  arrange,  construct,  and  adjust  carefully,  even 
with  mechanical  precision,  whatever  he  may  undertake.  His  head  is 
large  at  Benevolence,  and  the  whole  forehead  about  the  median  line 
is  strongly  marked.  Accuracy  of  statement  should  characterize  his 
discourse,  while  a  strict  adherence  to  consistency  would  be  manifest 
in  all  his  operations.  Firmness  of  purpose  and  thoroughness  in  exe- 
cution of  his  designs  are  also  well  indicated."  Dr.  Ferris  is  one  of 
the  ablest  of  living  scholars,  and  what  is  more,  is  one  of  the  most 
practical  and  hence  successful  instructors  of  our  times.  Poets  are 
born,  and  so  are  teachers,  and  quite  as  many  mistake  their  calling  in 
one  vocation  as  the  other.  We  call  Dr.  Ferris  a  horn  teacher.  His 
vast  mind  grasps  everything,  but  it  is  neither  secretive  of  his  love, 
nor  does  it  fail  to  make  its  instruction  clear  and  penetrating  to  in- 
ferior and  less  learned  intelligence.  His  elucidation  is  as  plain  as 
noon-day.  The  lofty  heights  of  erudition  are  to  be  reached  by  well 
defined  paths,  and  the  student  has  only  to  use  his  own  intelligence 
and  proper  diligence,  and  feel  the  incentive  of  ambition,  and  success 
is  certain.  As  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  Dr.  Ferris  has  been  equally 
successful.  His  whole  ministry  was  a  triumph.  He  had  much  to 
test  his  capabilities  in  every  respect,  but  in  both  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral things  he  was  true  to  every  duty  and  equal  to  every  tnist.  His 
manner  of  preaching  is  calm  and  impressive.  An  able  thinker  and 
writer,  there  is  great  power  and  comprehensiveness  in  his  matter, 
and  his  collected  and  dignified  delivery  give  it  additional  effective- 
ness. The  sincere,  devout  tone  of  the  speaker,  and  his  venerable 
appearance,  also  lend  an  irresistible  fascination  to  the  learned  and 

holy  words. 

•^  187 


REY.  EDWARD  0.  ELAGG,  D.  D., 

RECTOn   OI-     THU   CHURCH    OF   THi:    IlESU UliEC- 
TIOJV,    IVE^V    YORIt. 


'EY.  EDWARD  O.  FLAGG,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  George- 
town, South  Carolina,  December  13th,  1825.  His  grand- 
mother was  cousin  to  General  Francis  Marion,  and  his 
ancestry  is  to  be  traced  to  other  noted  revolutionary 
stock,  as  well  as  to  distinguished  modern  families  of  South 
«^  Carolina  and  Connecticut,  His  father,  who  was  the  half- 
brother  of  the  celebrated  Washington  Alston,  married  a  lady 
of  New  Haven,  and  was  mayor  of  that  city,  and  also  the  edi- 
tor of  a  leading  newspaper  of  the  State.  After  spending  nearly 
two  years  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  where  he  stood  among 
the  first  in  his  class,  the  son  continued  his  academic  studies 
under  private  instructors.  At  his  maturity  he  was  converted, 
and  commenced  preparations  for  the  Episcopal  ministry,  under 
Rev.  Dr.  Croswell,  of  New  Haven.  In  his  twenty-fourth  year 
he  was  ordained  deacon,  and  the '  following  year  became  priest 
He  first  settled  as  assistant  to  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan,  then  at  Christ 
Church,  Norwich,  and  now  of  St.  Thomas's,  New  York ;  and  in  1850, 
on  tlie  organization  of  the  new  parish  of  Trinity,  at  the  same  place, 
was  called  as  the  rector.  In  the  meantime  he  had  started  a  church 
at  Yantic,  which  has  become  a  flourishing  parish.  He  remained  at 
Trinity  for  three  years  and  a  half,  when  he  found  it  necessary  to 
;  eek  a  milder  climate  for  his  wife,  whose  health  was  seriously  im- 
paired. During  his  ministrations  the  parish  had  increased  from 
forty  or  fifty  persons  to  some  six  hundred.  His  next  position 
was  associate  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Baltimore,  Md.,  which 
he  left  after  six  months,  as  his  wife's  health  did  not  improve. 
Proceeding  to  New  Oi'leans,  he  took  temporary  charge  of  Trin- 
ity Church,  declining  to  become  the  rector,  as  his  movements 
depended  entirely  upon  the  health  of  his  wife ;  and,  finally,  by 
reason    of    her    increased    indisposition,    he    again    came    North 

188 


]h- 


REV.     EDWARD     O.     FLAGG,     D.  D. 

He  was  offered  six  thousand  dollars  per  annum  to  remain, 
and  was  succeeded  by  the  late  Bishop  (General)  Polk.  In  July, 
1854:,  lie  accepted  a  call  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  Paterson,  New  Jersey, 
at  which  place  he  suffered  the  loss  of  his  wife  and  a  child.  He  re 
signed  in  November,  1856,  and  went  abroad,  spending  nine  months 
in  European  travel.  On  his  return  he  was  called  to  All  Saints' 
Church,  New  York,  where  he  continued  until  the  autumn  of  1861. 
Abandoning  a  design  of  again  going  abroad,  he  opened  Trenor's 
Hall,  corner  of  Broadway  and  Tbirty-fourth  stree  ,  as  a  new  place 
of  Episcopal  worship.  The  undertaking  prospered.  A  parish,  to 
be  known  as  the  Church  of  the  Resurrection,  was  organized ;  and 
in  the  Spring  of  1862  the  church  in  Thirty-fourth  street,  formerly 
occupied  by  Rev.  Mr.  Corey's  Baptist  congi'egation,  was  permanently 
occupied,  the  property,  including  a  rectory,  having  been  obtained 
for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  congregation  at  length  resold 
this  property,  and  built  on  the  corner  of  Madison  Avenue  and 
Forty-seventh  street.  Impaired  health  caused  the  rector's  absence 
in  Europe  for  not  quite  a  year.  During  this  time,  and  for  a  term 
subsequently,  the  chm'ch  edifice  was  rented  to  other  congregations. 
On  Dr.  Flagg's  return  to  the  United  States,  he  became  a  supply  for 
three  months  in  Hudson,  New  York,  and  for  a  year  at  St.  Mark's 
Church.  New  York  City.  He  then  renewed  regular  pastoral  labors 
in  a  hall  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city. 

Owing  to  the  encroachments  of  the  Grand  Central  Depot  upon 
the  Forty-seventh  street  property — also  a  heavy  indebtedness  rest- 
ing upon  the  same — it  was  deemed  advisable  to  enter  upon  a  pro- 
posed exchange  for  a  church  edifice  in  Eighty-fifth  street,  held  as 
a  mission  by  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jun.  A  consolidation  has 
thus  been  effected  with  what  was  once  St.  Paul's  Church,  Yorkville, 
but  which  is  now  known  as  the  Church  of  the  Resui-rection.  Work 
in  the  new  field  has  been  commenced  under  flattering  auspices. 

During  the  intermission  from  regular  duty  Dr.  Flagg  was  offered 
the  chaplaincy  of  the  Ninth  Regiment  N.  Y.  N.  G.  Hoping  to 
exercise  a  salutary  Christian  influence  in  his  association  with  the 
members,  he  accepted  the  position.  He  officiated  on  several  occa- 
sions of  much  public  interest 

His  sermon  over  Wyatt  and  Page,  members  of  the  regiment,  who 
fell  in  the  riot  of  the  12th  of  July,  was  a  brilliant  and  patriotic 

effort.     He  spoke  from  the  text,  "  The  Lord's  voice  crieth  unto  the 

189 


EEV.     EDWARD     O.     FLAGG,     D.  D. 

oity  ;"  and  in  the  course  of  the  sermon  gave  utterance  to  the  fol- 
lowing significant  expressions : 

"  At  the  same  time  we  make  all  reasonable  concessions  in  matters  of  faith  and 
conscience,  the  Lord's  voice  on  the  present  occasion  incites  us  never  to  surrender 
our  rehgious  liberties.  Neither  Puritanical  nor  Popish  restrictions  should  hamper 
us  in  the  same.  Our  forefathers  especially  fought  and  bled  for  freedom  to  worship 
God.  The  incense  of  such  a  desire  consecrated  the  forest-wild,  while  the  rock  was 
the  puljiit  canopied  by  Nature's  blue  cathedral  dome.  '  Freedom  to  Worship  God ' 
was  lisped  in  the  nursery,  chanted  in  a  mother's  lullaby,  echoing  to  the  embowered 
nave  that  uttered  its  monotone  on  the  wild  New  England  coast.  The  whizzing  ball 
of  the  Eevolution  baptized  the  dear-bought  truth  in  the  blood  of  many  a  foeman. 
Surrender  this  our  heritage,  and  we  surrender  everything  that  is  near  and  dear  to 
the  American  heart.  The  Stars  and  Stripes  are  but  a  flaunting  lie,  and  should  be 
fiurled  with  the  first  public  act  to  such  an  effect.  Mean  cravens  are  they  who  would 
sacrifice  one  religious  rite  to  stronger  importunity.  May  every  hand  that  would  thus 
profane  our  ark  of  national  safety  forever  be  made  to  perish  with  that  of  Uzzah. 
Whatever  interferes  logically  with  our  prerogative  here  should  not  for  a  moment  be 
allowed  to  lift  its  brazen  head — however  specious  and  imposing  the  isretext.  There 
are  a  great  many  streams  which  quench  the  thirst,  but  none  like  yon  mountain 
spring  which  trickles  in  the  upper  atmosphere.  It  is  the  only  pure,  gushing,  sufficient 
source — and  there  are  many  beneficial  derived  sources  of  spiritual  safety — but  none 
like  the  Book  of  Books,  which  every  one  by  its  author  is  requested  and  privileged  to 
read.  Thence  does  the  fountain  of  a  Saviour's  blood  most  purely,  adequately  flow. 
There  does  a  Saviour  most  efi"ectually  touch  the  sinner's  heart,  and  fill  his  soul  with 
the  refreshment  of  salvation.  Who  would  wish  or  dare  in  this  land  of  gospel  liberty 
to  forbid  the  invalid,  longing  soul  ?  Let  not  this  bread  of  life — the  Bible — be  with- 
held from  a  single  hungry  mortal.  If  the  Declaration  of  Indeiiendence  is  to  be 
read  by  all,  should  that  be  withheld  which  afforded  us  such  declaration  ?  All  the 
emancipation  of  the  body  is  nothing  without  Christian  emancipation  —that  of  the 
spirit ;  and  cowed,  indeed,  is  he — and  no  American — who  will  allow  the  jewel  of  his 
being,  the  conscience,  to  he  fettered,  the  healthful  Word  of  God  to  be  crippled  in 
any  of  its  influences.  When  freedom  to  worship  God  and  hberty  of  conscience  are 
taken  away,  we  shall  have  no  liberty  whatever  left,  and  we  might  as  well  at  once 
cringe  to  the  despot  of  Europe." 

We  make  the  following  extract  from  one  of  Dr.  Flagg's  early 
poems,  written  on  a  subject  suggested  by  a  lady,  a  circumstance 
similar  to  that  which  led  to  the  composition  of  Cowper's  poem  of 
"  The  Task  " : 

"  LIFE  AS  IT  IS." 

"  Life  as  it  is — a  thing  of  fears, 
A  thing  of  hopes,  of  smiles,  of  tears  ; 
A  blossom  which  at  morning  blows, 
A  blossom  which  at  evening  goes  ; 
A  flower  tinged  with  beauty's  blush, 
Which  any  thoughtless  tread  may  crush  ; 
A  sky  of  azure,  fair  and  bright. 
Which  storm-clouds  quick  obscure  from  sight ; 
190 


REV.     EDWARD     O.     FLAGG,     D.  D. 

A  moonbeam's  evanescent  play, 
Whicli  ere  the  day  dawn  speeds  away  ; 
A  bubble  floating  on  a  lake, 
That  soon  a  passing  breeze  may  break  ; 
A  wave  that  tosses  high  and  free, 
Then  dies  upon  a  tranquil  sea. 
Life  as  it  is — a  songster  proud 
That  leaves  his  perch  to  seek  the  cloud  ; 
But  soon  falls  low,  with  flutt'ring  wing. 
No  more  to  soar,  no  more  to  sing. 
Oh  !  fearful  art  thou,  human  life — 
Thou  fitful  thing,  thou  thing  of  strife  ; 
Why  mock  us  with  the  promise  bright, 
Then  lea.'^e  behind  the  gloom  of  night  ?" 

Dr.  Flagg  has  married  a  second  time.  He  received  his  degree  of 
D.  D.  from  the  New  York  University  in  1866.  He  has  contributed 
occasionally  to  the  press  in  botli  prose  and  verse,  and  is  a  person  of 
decided  literary  and  artistic  taste.  One  of  his  brothers,  who  is  an 
Episcopal  minister,  is  also  quite  an  artist;  and  another  brother  is 
George  Flagg,  a  painter  of  repute.  William  Flagg  is  a  lawyer  and 
author  of  merit,  and  Capt.  H.  C.  Flagg,  deceased,  of  the  Uniled  States 
Navy,  was  a  man  of  varied  abilities. 

Dr.  Flagg  is  of  the  medium  height,  well  formed,  and  of  a  light 
complexion,  and  has  straight  brown  and  gray  hair,  and  wears  whis- 
kers. His  brow  has  a  somewhat  serious  expression,  which  passes 
away  however  when  he  is  engaged  in  animated  conversation.  In 
public  there  is  a  great  deal  of  composure,  and  no  little  dignity  about 
him,  but  in  social  intercourse  he  is  more  unreserved  and  free.  His 
head  and  features  have  every  indication  of  intelligence  and  refine- 
ment. It  is  a  countenance  which  declares  a  delight  in  mental  and 
cultivated  attainments,  and  it  shows  a  nature  quick  to  feel  and  ar- 
dent in  its  action,  but  well  disciplined  to  manly  and  Christian  pur- 
poses. Turning  with  natural  distaste  from  all  that  debases,  he  is  as 
naturally  enthusiastic  in  his  desire  for  that  which  elevates.  Chival- 
ric,  high-toned,  keenly  alive  to  the  requirements  of  all  manly  and 
moral  obligations,  he  makes  his  deportment  and  his  life  a  hapj  y  min- 
gling of  that  which  is  truest  in  manhood  and  noblest  in  duty.  He 
is  a  genial,  interesting  companion.  Frank,  animated,  cheerful,  and 
speaking  with  a  clear  understanding  of  his  topic,  he  is  not  only  a 
most  agreeable,  but  a  most  capable  conversationalist.  As  he  talks 
he  evinces  a  nervous  impulsiveness,  proceeding  sometimes  rather 
abruptly  to  new  themes,  and  always  exhibits  at  once  intelligence  and 

191 


REV.     EDWARD     O       FLAGG,     D.  D. 

sincerity  of  conviction.  His  ministerial  cliaracter  is  fully  evident 
from  the  direction  of  his  thoughts,  but  all  that  is  beautiful  and  true 
in  secular  things  awakens  his  pleasure  and  interest. 

Dr.  Flagg  excels  as  an  elocutionist.  He  has  a  pure,  distinct  voice, 
of  admirable  modulation,  gentle  and  sweet  in  its  softer  tones,  and 
rich  and  flexible  in  their  greatest  expansion.  The  falling  of  peace- 
ful waters  or  the  accord  of  musical  sounds  are  not  more  delightful 
to  the  ear  than  his  clear,  emotional  pronunciation.  Not  only  does 
every  word  have  its  full  expression  to  the  hearing,  but  every  senti- 
ment becomes  vivid  to  the  feelings.  And  all  this  is  without  any 
appearance  of  studied  effort     He  has  a  few  appropriate  gestures. 

His  sermons  are  well  written,  and  show  much  diversity  of 
thought.  Some  of  them  are  strictly  argumentative,  dealing  in  the 
most  forcible  and  keenest  logic;  others  mingle  with  this  a  certain 
flow  of  the  imagination,  while  others  again  are  wholly  given  to  the 
most  poetic  and  tender  extremes  of  religious  and  moral  sentiment 
The  mind  of  the  writer  is  fresh  and  buoyant — it  is  aglow  with  im- 
pressions of  beautiful  truths  and  heaven-inspiring  hopes,  and  the  call 
to  grace  is  not  less  chaste  in  language  than  it  is  devout  in  tone  and 
manner. 

192 


PiEY.  CHAPiLES  FLETCHER, 

PRESTOIIVO      JDTLiTJErt      OT^      THIZ:      SOXJTII      3L.OIVG 
ISLAiVD     r>I&TltICT,    IVEW   YOTlIv     EA.ST 


J^l  EV.  CHARLES  FLETCHER  was  born  in  Yorkshire, 
ml^^^  near  Leeds,  England,  January  10th,  1811.  His  business 
Kt^^  was  that  of  a  wool  buyer  and  woolen  manufacturer,  but 
}M^  he  exercised  the  functions  of  a  Methodist  local  preacher 

J^  among  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  in  the  Bramley  circuit,  ad- 
*^  joining  Leeds.  In  1840  he  came  to  the  United  States  and  en- 
tered into  business,  and  during  1841  traveled  extensively  in  the 
South  and  Southwest.  From  1842  to  the  spring  of  1845  he  was  a 
local  preacher  in  Dutchess  county,  New  Yoi-k,  when  he  entered  the 
New  York  Conference,  but  retired  from  it  in  the  autumn  of  the  fol- 
lowing year,  by  reason  of  ill  health.  In  1845  he  was  stationed  at 
East  Hartford.  He  was  admitted  to  the  New  York  East  Conference 
in  1852,  and  appointed  to  Summerfield  Chapel.  This  was  a  new 
Methodist  organization  in  Washington  avenue,  Brooklyn,  started  by 
himself  with  eight  members,  but  which  is  now  a  large  and  flourishing 
congregation.  His  subsequent  appointments  have  been  as  follows — • 
viz.;  1853,  1854  Binghamton,  Connecticut;  1855,  1856,  Bridgeport; 
1857,  1858,  Seventh  street,  New  York ;  1859,  1860,  Twenty-seventh 
street.  New  York;  1861,1862,  Mamaroneck ;  1863,  Meriden,  Con- 
necticut, and  in  1864  at  the  Sands  street  Church,  Brooklyn.  He  has 
held  other  appointments,  and  in  1872  he  became  presiding  elder  of 
the  South  Long  Island  District,  New  York  East  Conference. 

Methodist  itinerants  began  to  visit  Brooklyn  as  early  as  1784, 
preaching  occasionally  in  private  houses.  In  1793  the  first  Metho- 
dist church,  a  small  frame  building,  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Sands  street  church.  This  house  was  dedicated  by  Rev. 
Joseph  Totten,  June  1st,  1794.  Three  years  later  Brooklyn  was 
formed  into  a  separate  charge,  with  a  membership  of  twenty- three 


193 


EEV.     CHARLES     FLETCHER 

wLites,  and  twenty-seven  colored.  Kev.  Joseph  Totten  was  tlie  first 
stationed  minister.  There  are  now  thirty-four  Methodist  churches 
in  Brooklyn. 

Mr.  Eletcher  is  a  large,  tall  gentleman  ;  broad-shouldered,  heavy- 
boned,  and,  altogether,  a  very  fine  specimen  of  physical  development. 
His  head  is  of  fitting  size  for  his  large  body  ;  and,  while  the  counte- 
nance is  not  characterized  by  any  striking  marks  of  intellect,  it  has  an 
openness  and  benevolence  which  are  not  less  attractive.  He  is  not 
one  from  whom  anything  brilliant  or  unusual  in  words  and  deeds  is 
to  be  expected,  but  to-day  and  always  he  will  be  found  a  man  of  the 
most  practical  qualities  of  mind,  and  of  honorable,  straightforward 
conduct  He  has  a  great  deal  of  deliberation  and  thoiightfulness  of 
manner ;  and,  while  he  is  entirely  courteous,  is  neither  communicative 
nor  genial  In  a  word,  he  is  one  of  those  sedate,  old-fashioned  per- 
sons never  to  be  changed  from  old  ways  and  old  opinions,  and  never 
carried  away  by  any  impulse  or  excitement,  but  showing  admirable 
consistency  in  all  things,  and  an  appreciable  amiability. 

The  following  is  a  brief  sketch  of  Mr.  Fletcher,  written  by  a 
person  intimate  with  him : 

"This  gentleman  is  much  above  mediocrity,  as  a  preacher.  Exceedingly  well 
balanced  in  his  mental  attributes,  with  scholarly  tastes  and  considerable  cultivation, 
his  sermons  are  generally  of  a  high  order.  He  possesses  clearness  of  style,  consid- 
erable analytical  power,  with  a  fancy  well  cultivated,  but  not  very  sprightly.  His 
Ijreaching  is  characterized  by  dignity,  strength,  and  manliness,  without  great  bril- 
liancy or  originality.  He  is  retiring  in  his  habits,  meditative,  and  studious,  with 
little  sociability,  and  perhaps  not  as  well  adapted  as  some  others  for  iiastoral  effi- 
ciency. He  is  generally,  however,  popular  with  the  people  in  his  field  of  labor  ;  and 
is,  undoubtedly,  a  rising  man  in  the  church.  His  character  and  abilities  will  always 
command  the  respect  of  the  public,  and  he  will  doubtless  be  found  equal  to  any 
position  to  which  he  may  be  called  by  the  appointing  power. " 

Mr.  Fletcher  is  a  most  useful  man  in  the  sect  to  which  he  belongs. 
His  piety  is  sincere  and  enthusiastic ;  he  is  ever  making  a  practical 
application  of  his  talents  and  energies  to  the  propagation  of  his  faith 
and  the  conversion  of  souls,  and  especially  commending  himself  to 
his  fellow-men  by  his  zeal  and  a  blameless  life.  Humble-minded, 
zealous,  faithful,  God-fearing,  and  outspoken,  he  is  recognized  in  his 
denomination  as  a  noble  illustration  of  the  religious  principles,  of 
which  he  is  a  teacher. 

194 


EEY.  JOHN  MURRAY  FORBES,  D.  J)., 

LA.TE      I>E^V1V      OF      THE      EI»ISCOT»AlL.      GEIVERA^L. 


EY.  DR.  JOHN  MURRAY  FORBES  was  born  m  the 
city  of  New  York  in  1807.  He  was  graduated  at  Colum- 
bia College  in  the  class  of  1827,  and  at  the  General  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  1830.  His  first  position  was  as  tutor 
at  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  the 
^  fall  of  the  same  year.  In  1835  lie  resigned,  and  accepted  the 
rectorship  of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church,  in  Hudson  street,  New 
York,  one  of  the  most  important  parishes  of  the  city.  He  remained 
in  this  work  about  fourteen  years,  until  the  summer  of  1849,  having 
made  for  himself  a  wide  popularity  in  his  own  denomination,  and  in 
the  church  generally.  He  constantly  held  important  offices  and 
positions. 

For  some  time  previously  it  had  been  known  that  Dr.  Forbes  had 
given  his  scholarly  attention  to  an  examination  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and  his  purpose  in  retiring  from  the  rectorship 
of  St  Luke's  was  to  enter  that  communion.  This  step,  in  one  so 
eminent  and  beloved,  produced  a  most  profound  sensation  among 
both  Episcopalians  and  Roman  Catholics.  In  the  early  part  of  1851 
Dr.  Forbes  was  ordained  a  priest  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
became  assistant  priest  at  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  in  Second 
avenue.  New  York.  His  talents  and  reputation  gave  him  full  title 
to  as  conspicuous  a  position  in  the  Catholic  body  as  in  the  one  he 
had  left.  Subsequently,  in  1853,  he  was  made  pastor  of  the  new 
church  of  St.  Ann's,  in  Eighth  street,  where  he  officiated  for  about 
six  years.  Dr.  Forbes  received  at  the  hands  of  Pius  IX  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Sacred  Theology.  He  was  also  sent  by  the  late  Arch- 
bishop Hughes  on  a  special  mission  to  Rome,  to  aid  in  establishing 
there  the  American  College  for  Priests,  with,  it  is  said,  the  intimation 
that  he  might  remain,  if  he  wished  it,  to  preside  over  that  institution. 
In  1869  he  resigned  his  position  at  St  Ann's,  and  at  the  same  time 

195 


REV.     JOHN     MURRAY     FORBES,     D,  D. 

withdrew  from  tlie  Cutholic  Church,  and  re-entered  that  in  which  he 
had  been  first  ordained.  His  reasons  for  this  important  act  are  given 
in  the  following  letter,  which  is  a  correct  version,  and  difi^rs  from  an- 
other in  print : 

New  York,   October  llth,  1859. 
Most  Eeveeend  John  Hughes,  D.  D.,  Archbishop,  &c.  :— 

Most  Eeveeend  Sie— It  is  now  nearly  ten  years  since,  under  your  auspices,  I 
laid  down  my  ministry  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  to  submit  myself  to  the 
Church  of  Rome.  The  intei-val,  as  you  know,  has  not  been  idly  spent  ;  each  day 
has  had  its  responsibility  and  duty,  and  with  these  have  come  experience,  observa- 
tion, and  the  knowledge  of  many  things  not  so  well  understood  before.  The  result 
is  that  I  feel  I  have  committed  a  grave  error,  which,  publicly  made,  should  be 
publicly  reijau-ed.  'NVhen  I  came  to  you,  it  was,  as  I  stated,  with  a  deep  and  con- 
scientious conviction  that  it  was  necessary  to  be  in  communion  with  the  See  of 
Rome  ;  but  this  conviction  I  have  not  been  able  to  sustain,  in  face  of  the  fact  that 
by  it  the  natural  rights  of  man  and  all  individual  liberty  must  be  sacrificed— nor 
only  so,  but  the  private  conscience  often  violated,  and  one  forced,  by  silence  at 
least,  to  acquiesce  in  what  is  opposed  to  moral  truth  and  justice.  Under  these 
circumstances,  when  I  call  to  mind  how  slender  is  the  foundation  in  the  earliest 
ages  of  the  Church  upon  which  has  been  reared  the  present  Papal  i^ower,  I  can  no 
longer  regard  it  as  legitimately  imposing  obligations  upon  me  or  any  one  else.  I  do 
now,  therefore,  by  this  act,  disown  and  withdraw  myself  from  its  alleged  juris- 
diction. 

I  remain,  most  reverend  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

John  Mtjreat  Foebes,  D.  D., 
Late  Pafilor  of  Si.  Anyi's  Church,  N.    T. 

"When  this  remarkable  letter  was  made  public  it  caused  a  great 
excitement  in  the  religious  world.  No  one  who  knew  Dr.  Forbes 
could  for  a  moment  suppose  that  in  leaving  the  Episcoj^al  Church, 
and  now  in  repudiating  the  Catholic,  that  he  was  actuated  by  any 
except  the  most  conscientious  motives.  Still  he  had  his  assailants  on 
both  occasions,  and  submitted  to  the  greatest  possible  trial  in  his  per- 
sonal feelings.  His  return  to  the  Episcopal  faith  was  hailed  with  the 
deepest  joy  by  his  old  friends  and  parishioners.  He  had  never  lost 
the  respect  of  those  persons,  and  on  every  side  he  received  the 
warmest  tokens  of  confidence  from  both  clergy  and  laity.  He  was 
fidly  restored  to  his  order  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in 
1862,  and  became  associate  rector  with  the  Eev.  Dr.  Tuttle  of  his  old 
parish,  St.  Luke's.  In  October,  1869,  he  was  elected  dean  of  the 
General  Theological  Seminary.  His  installation  to  office  took  place 
in  February,  1870,  at  the  church  of  the  Transfiguration  with  interest- 
ing services.  In  the  course  of  an  address,  Dr.  Forbes  used  the  follow- 
ing language:  "Romanism  has  conferred  upon   us  the  inestimable 

privileges  of  professing  God's  revealed  word,  and  the  orders  which 

196 


REV.     JOHN     MURRAY     FORBES,     D.  D. 

Christ  ordained  should  always  subsist  in  His  church.  But  this  church 
throws  chains  around  us  which  no  one  can  endure  and  presciTe  his 
manhood." 

The  General  Theological  Seminary  is  located  on  a  large  property 
on  Ninth  avenue  and  West  Twentieth  and  West  Twenty -first  streets. 
It  was  founded  in  1817,  removed  to  New  Haven  in  1820,  and  re- 
moved back  again  to  New  York  in  1821.  The  seminarv  buildings 
and  professors'  houses  are  plainlj^  constructed  edifices  of  granite, 
some  of  which  were  erected  in  1823  and  others  in  1838.  It  is  under 
discussion  to  sell  this  now  very  valuable  property,  and  remove  the 
seminary  to  some  other  location.  The  faculty  is  a  very  able  one, 
embracing  as  it  does  some  of  the  most  eminent  names  of  the  Episcopal 
ministry,  and  the  institution  is  in  a  very  flourishing  condition. 

Dr.  Forbes  entered  upon  his  duties  of  permanent  head  of  the 
seminai-y,  the  want  of  such  a  functionary  having  been  deeply  felt  for 
twenty-five  years,  with  his  accustomed  urbanity  and  zeal.  He  also 
visited  among  the  different  parishes,  as  opportunity  offered  for  preach- 
ing, and  was  everywhere  listened  to  with  great  interest.  Considera- 
tions of  his  own  induced  him  to  resign  in  November,  1872. 

He  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  has  a  round,  erect  figure.     His 

head  is  large  and  round,  with  regular  features.     The  expression  of 

his  face  is  very  amiable  and  benevolent,  and  his  high  prominent  brow 

bespeaks  his  more  than  ordinary  intellectual  capacity.     His  Ijan-  is  a 

silver  gray,  and  his  whole  appearance  venerable  and  impressive  in 

the  extreme.     He  has  one  of  those  genial  noble  faces  that  the  gaze 

loves  to  linger  upon.     The  eyes  are  soft  and  bright,  and  there  is  a 

cheerfulness,  an  amiability,  and  an  intellectuality  that  together  make 

a  countenance  not  easily  forgotten.     Then  while  he  is  a  man  of  an 

ever-]3resent  dignity,  he  always  exhibits  a  courtesy  and  affability  of 

the  most  pleasing  description.     With  all  this  polish  and  softness  of 

manners,  it  is  also  easily  to  be  seen  that  he  is  a  person  of  much  force 

of  character.     He  is  not  demonstrative  in  either  speech  or  manner, 

but  there  are  to  be  observed  a  firmness  and  precision,  an  exactness  to 

principle  and  duty,  and  an  earnest  desire  for  right  and  the  truth,  that 

show  him  to  have  strong  feelings  and  opinions,  and  to  have  the  will 

to  maintain  them.     Hence  wherever  he  is  placed  he  is  a  tower  of 

strength.     He  has  not  only   a  learned,  but  practical  mind,  and  an 

energy  which  is  not  less  unselfish   than  it  is  untiring.     In  the  field 

of  action    he   is   eager,  firm,   and  bold  at  the  same  time  that  he 

studiously    avoids   everything   which   might    oflend    personal    sus- 

197 


REV.      JOHN"     MURRAY     FORBES,     D.  D. 

ceptibility.  A  just  and  generous  spirit  characterizes  all  his  relations 
with  his  fellow-men,  and,  while  he  is  no  seeker  for  popularity,  inter- 
course with  him  always  secures  it  with  all  classes. 

The  sermons  preached  by  Dr.  Forbes  are  peculiar  to  himself  A 
life-long  and  thorough  student  of  theology,  it  is  not  difficult  for  him 
to  take  any  text  from  the  Scriptures  and  speak  extemporaneously 
upon  it.  You  see  him  go  into  the  pulpit,  and,  after  reading  his  text, 
he  turns  to  his  audience  and.  addresses  them  in  the  most  logical  and 
argumentative  manner  without  the  assistance  of  anything  written. 
Whatever  previous  thought  and  preparation  he  may  allow  himself  is 
altogether  mental.  You  are  particularly  struck  with  his  choice, 
epigrammatic  language,  with  the  fullness  and  clearness  of  his  explana- 
tions and  argument,  and  with  the  modest  and  unostentatious  manner 
of  delivery.  At  times  there  is  evidence  of  warmth  and  feeling,  but 
the  general  tone  is  that  of  great  calmness  and  dignity.  His  words 
are  most  simple,  but  they  have  marked  force  and  expressiveness. 
They  are  apt  and  terse,  and  are  most  happily  chosen  for  the  place 
and  purpose  in  which  they  are  used.  His  voice  is  not  loud,  but  it 
has  quite  sufficient  compass,  and  is  so  modulated  that  every  word 
has  the  best  effect.  A  few  expressive  gestures  are  all  that  he  ever 
attempts.  While  he  speaks  his  face  is  very  animated,  and  he 
tlioroughly  imjjresses  you  with  his  sincerity  and  devout  piety.  A 
truly  good  man,  his  preaching  presents  him  in  the  light  of  a  most 
learned  and  conscientious  expounder  of  Grospel  truths. 

198 


HEY.  BISHOP  RAXDOLPK  S.  FOSTER,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

OF  THE  ]meth:ot>i©t  chxjjich. 


''''fEY.  DR  EANDOLPH  S.  FOSTEE,  one  of  tbe  Bishops  of 

r)  tbe  Methodist  church,  was  born  at  Williamsbure,  Clermont 

ii^  county,  Ohio,  February  22d,  1820.      When  be  was  six 


years  old  bis  father  removed  to  Bracken  county,  Ken- 
tucky, where  be  attended  sucli  a  school  as  the  county  afforded. 
At  fourteen  years  be  entered  Augusta  College,  one  of  tbe  earliest 
Methodist  collegiate  institutions  which  was  established  in  tbe  United 
States,  where  be  continued  until  be  bad  entered  tbe  senior  j-ear.  He 
had  been  converted  at  the  early  age  of  twelve  years,  and  when  thir- 
teen years  and  a  half  be  bad  received  authority  to  exhort  in  tbe 
Methodist  church.  On  leaving  college,  in  1837,  at  seventeen,  be 
was  licensed  as  a  preacher,  and,  entering  the  Ohio  Conference,  was 
appointed  to  the  Charleston  Circuit  in  Western  Virginia.  He  re- 
mained in  the  Ohio  Conference  thirteen  3'ears,  and  had  appointments 
at  many  places,  including  the  cities  of  Lancaster,  Springfield,  and 
Cincinnati.  He  came  to  New  York  in  1849,  and,  entering  the  New 
York  Conference,  was  first  stationed  in  the  Mulberry  street  church 
for  two  years,  and  subsequently  at  Greene  street  church  two  years. 
He  next  entered  the  New  York  East  Conference,  and  went  to  the 
Pacific  street  church,  Brooklyn,  where  be  remained  two  years.  Re- 
turning to  the  New  York  Conference,  be  went  to  Trinity  church, 
New^  York,  for  one  year,  and  then  became  president  of  the  North- 
western University  in  Illinois,  where  he  remained  three  years.  After 
this  be  again  returned  to  New  York,  and  remained  at  the  Washing- 
ton Square  Church  for  two  years,  then,  going  to  Sing  Sing  for  two 
years,  and  then  to  tbe  Eighteenth  street  church,  New  York,  for  three 
years,  and  in  1867  commenced  another  two  years'  appointment  at 
the  Washington  Square  church.  Later  he  became  a  professor  in  the 
Drew  Theological  Seminary,  New  Jersey. 

In  1861,  Dr.  Foster  was  elected  president  of  tbe  Troy  University; 

199 


BISHOP     RANDOLPH     S.      FOSTER,     D.  D.,    LL.D. 

but,  on  account  of  the  financial  embarrassments  of  the  institution, 
did  not  accept  the  position.  The  General  Conference  in  May,  1872, 
elected  him  one  of  the  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  church. 

Bishop  Foster  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  Western 
University,  and  LL.  D.  from  the  Northwestern  University.  He  is 
the  author  of  several  published  works,  and  various  occasional  sermons. 
The  titles  of  his  works  are  "Objections  to  Calvinism,"  published  in 
Cincinnati  in  1848;  "Christian  Purity,"  published  by  the  Harpers, 
New  York,  and  the  Methodist  Book  Concern,  in  1851 ;  "Ministry  for 
the  Times,"  published  in  New  York  in  1853. 

Bishop  Foster  is  tali,  well-proportioned,  and  seems  to  be  a  man 
of  a  considerable  amount  of  physical  vigor.  His  head  is  of  ample 
size,  with  regular,  expressive  features.  It  is  readily  to  be  seen  that 
he  is  of  a  reflective,  serious  nature,  and  has  mental  power  as  well  as 
force  of  character.  He  is  dignified,  and  reserved  to  some  extent,  but 
is  not  without  congeniality.  In  all  respects  he  is  a  sedate,  sober-going 
man,  feeling  and  observing  the  dignity  and  proprieties  belonging  to 
the  clerical  station. 

His  whole  life  has  been  one  of  undeviating  piety  and  labor  in  his 
profession.  His  early  conversion  was  accompanied  by  many  alTecting 
incidents  of  thorough  self-sacrifice  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  his  ministerial  career,  which  dates  from  his  very  youth, 
has  been  strikingly  marked  by  rigid  adherence,  not  only  to  religious 
principles,  but  to  every-day  duty.  He  presents  in  his  own  conduct 
as  far  as  he  can,  the  true  religious  life,  but  he  does  it  witliout  parade 
and  without  bigotry. 

Bishop  Foster  is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  scholarly  men 
in  the  Methodist  church.  His  attainments  in  the  whole  field  of 
theology  are  of  the  first  order.  He  is  not  one  of  your  showy  scholars, 
indulging  in  metaphysical  disquisitions  and  pedantic  opinions,  but 
as  an  expounder  of  the  scriptures  there  are  few  more  learned.  His 
teachings  and  all  his  writings  are  thoroughly  reflective,  and  shov/  the 
utmost  scope  of  the  well-stored  and  naturally  logical  mind.  He  is 
not  only  particularly  clear  in  all  his  statements  and  explanations, 
but  he  is  so  comprehensive  and  logical  in  his  mode  of  reasoning  that 
he  delights  the  intellectual  as  much  as  he  instructs  the  lesser  mind. 
At  the  same  time  there  are  occasional  passages  in  which  he  gives 
scope  to  his  imagination,  which  is  always  distinguished  by  much  re- 
ligious inspiration  and  a  peculiarly  tender  pathos.  His  arguments 
are  majestic  efibrts  of  thought,  but  he  is  a  man  of  those  warm  feel- 

200 


BISHOP     RANDOLPH     S.      FOSTER,     D.  D.,    LL.    D. 

ings  of  the  heart  that  religious  topics  invariably  appeal  more  or  less 
to  his  emotions. 

He  is  a  speaker  of  much  efi'ectiveness  from  his  calm  dignity  of 
address.  His  intelligent,  beaming  face,  his  earnest,  authoritative  voice, 
his  composed  and  appropriate  gestures,  are  all  sources  of  power  over 
his  audience.  He  obtains  instant  and  undivided  attention,  and  every 
word,  distinctly  and  forcibly  uttered,  goes,  like  an  arrow  through 
the  air,  to  the  mind  and  heart. 

Bishop  Foster  is  a  representative  of  the  class  of  educated  men  in 
the  Methodist  ministry.  They  are  the  forerunners  of  the  talented 
body  of  clergy  who  are  hereafter  to  maintain  the  popular  supremacy 
of  this  church.  In  proportion  as  this  new  influence  shall  bless  and  ex- 
alt mankind,  so  will  be  the  renown  of  those  who  have  originated  it. 

201 


EEV.  CYRUS  D.  FOSS,  D.  D., 

LA.'TE     FA. '  T'OTl     OF     ST.     P JlXJT^'S     MiJETHODIST 
CHURCH,    ]VETV    YOKIt. 


EV.  DR  CYRUS  D.  FOSS  was  born  at  Kingston,  N. 
y.,  January  17th,  1834:.  He  pursued  his  earl-ier  studies 
at  the  Seminary  at  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  and  was  graduated  in 
theology  at  the  Wesleyan  University  in  1854.  In  the 
previous  year  he  had  been  licensed  as  a  local  preacher  of 
the  Methodist  church ;  but  after  graduation,  he  became  a 
teacher  in  the  Amenia  Seminary.  He  remained  there  three 
years  as  instructor  and  one  year  as  principal.  He  then  joined  the 
New  York  Conference,  and  entered  upon  regular  pastoral  duty.  His 
appointments  were  at  Chester,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1857-58 ; 
Fleet  Street  Church,  Brooklyn,  1859-60,  when  he  was  transferred  to 
the  New  York  East  Conference,  and  stationed  for  the  first  time  at 
St.  Paul's.  New  York.  For  the  last  fourteen  vears  he  has  been  al- 
together at  St.  Paul's,  and  other  prominent  churches  of  New  York, 
never  remaining  from  the  first  named  for  any  great  length  of  time,  as 
the  people  are  greatly  attached  to  him.  In  the  spring  of  1874  he 
left  St.  Paul's  to  fill  an  appointment  at  St.  James'  Church  (Harlem), 
New  York  City,  where  he  is  now  oflficiating. 

Some  years  since.  Dr.  Foss  declined  a  professorship  in  the  Drew 
Theological  Seminary,  preferring  to  remain  in  the  pastoral  work, 
which  he  greatly  loves.  At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Conference, 
in  May,  1872,  he  received  a  large  vote  as  a  candidate  for  one  of  the 
vacant  bishoprics,  but  finally,  himself  withdrew  his  name,  suggesting 
that  an  older  man  should  be  elected.  He  is  conspicuous  as  a  tem- 
perance advocate  in  the  State,  and  uses  both  pen  and  tongue  to  ad- 
vance this  cause.  He  frequently  contributes  to  religious  and  tem- 
perance publications.  As  a  speaker  at  meetings  for  special  purposes, 
and  as  a  preacher  in  camp-meetings,  he  is  extremely  effective  and 

202 


REV.     CYRUS    D.     FOSS,    D.  D. 

popular.  He  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Wesleyan  Univer- 
sitv  in  1857.  Within  a  few  years  the  degree  of  D.  D.  has  also  been 
confierred  upon  him. 

Dr.  Foss  is  of  the  medium  height,  well-proportioned,  and  of  an 
erect,  commanding  figure.  His  complexion  inclines  to  the  dark, 
with  a  ruddy,  healthful  glow,  and  he  has  dark  hair  ana  whiskers. 
His  eyes  are  small,  and  have  very  modest  sort  of  glances,  except 
when  he  is  aroused  in  public  speaking,  when  they  light  up  with  in- 
tellectual fire.  In  his  general  demeanor  he  is  retiring  and  unobtrusive, 
and  still  he  is  one  of  those  men  in  whom  this  very  modesty  is  a 
token  of  power. 

Some  people  ai-e  nobodies  unless  they  make  a  noise,  and  push 
and  elbow  somebody  else  out  of  the  way.  Then  there  are  those,  who 
of  their  own  volition  always  seek  the  back-ground,  but  in  whose  very 
silence,  quiet,  and  dignity  there  are  found  unmistakable  signs  of  the 
inner  forces  of  true  mental  and  moral  greatness.  The  great  thinkers, 
and  those  who  rise  to  the  highest  point  of  personal  virtue,  are  men 
who  care  so  little  for  the  world's  applause,  and  so  much  for  the 
development  of  the  practice  of  principles,  that  they  even  shun 
observation.  Sometimes  such  human  jewels  as  these  are  positively 
considered  bores,  and  noisy,  self-sufficient  individuals  carry  off  the 
palm  of  popularity,  and  have  exceeding  reputations  as  learned  men. 

Dr.  Foss  is  nothing  in  the  throng  of  the  vain  and  ambitious.  His 
sensitiveness  is  of  the  most  delicate  character,  and  the  moment  any- 
body crowds  him  he  unselfishly  gives  way.  He  enters  into  no  con- 
tests for  flattery  or  honors,  but  he  treasures  up  as  his  dearest  idol  the 
duty  of  expanding  the  qualities  which  make  man  great  in  the  light 
of  intelligence  and  conscience.  You  must  know  him  to  appreciate 
him,  unless  you  have  that  knowledge  of  human  nature  which  enables 
you  to  detect  force  of  character  which  is  so  much  concealed.  In  his 
strictly  jDrivate  life  he  is  decidely  genial  and  communicative.  He  acts 
as  if  he  thoroughly  enjoyed  himself,  and  makes  social  communion  a 
means  of  refinement,  for  both  mind  and  heart.  The  one  is  aglow 
with  light,  cheerful,  and  tender  sentiments,  and  the  other  yields  a 
rich  flow  of  manly  and  Christian  sympathies.  You  see  that  his 
learning  is  of  the  most  thorough  character,  that  it  is  his  delight,  and 
that  he  pursues  his  scholarly  studies  with  a  mind  naturally  strong, 
far-reaching,  and  retentive.  His  reserve  entirely  fades  away,  and 
there  is  nothing  of  the  seeming  dread,  which  he  shows  at  other  times, 
that  somebody  will  think  him  vain  and  presumptuous.     His  social 

203 


REV.     CYRUS    D.     FOSS,    D.  D. 

qualities — which  are  the  gentlest,  the  most  considerate,  and  the  most 
gentlemanly — now  appear  in  their  true  excellence,  and  his  talents 
and  worth  are  equally  conspicuous. 

Already  holding  a  prominent  place  in  his  denomination,  he  is  still 
a  rising  man.  Most  of  his  sermons  are  extemporaneous  efforts.  He 
has  a  great  deal  of  deliberation  in  his  delivery,  though  there  is  none 
too  much  for  effective  speaking.  He  weighs  every  word,  and  as  he 
goes  on,  the  thought  gains  in  strength,  completenes-,  and  beauty, 
until  it  is  finished  clear  and  vivid  to  both  speaker  and.  hearer.  He 
has  no  reserve,  as  far  as  language  is  concerned,  in  the  pulpit.  To 
talk  about  religion,  to  call  sinners  to  repentance,  and  comfort  those 
who  come  to  ask  the  way  to  grace — these  make  him  bold.  Now  his 
eyes  beam  with  a  new  light ;  now  his  form  straightens  and  fills  out 
with  conscious  powers;  and  now  his  lips  are  heard  in  tones  of  tliunder. 
He  does  not  speak  with  any  doubtfulness,  with  any  fear  that  there 
can  be  any  mistake  abc  .t  what  he  says ;  but  he  speaks  with  the 
emphatic  utterance  of  the  learned  mind  and  the  I'enewed  heart.  He 
is  earnest  at  all  times  ;  but  there  are  periods  when  this  is  more  evident 
than  at  others.  He  has  outbursts  of  considerable  vehemence,  and  the 
whole  tide  of  his  feelings  and  mental  comprehension  sweeps  outward 
in  his  effort  to  teach  and  to  touch.  His  voice  is  strong,  and  especi- 
ally rich-toned,  in  the  more  impassioned  flights  of  eloquence.  An 
argumentative  style  is  a  favorite  one  with  him — something  that  gives 
an  opportunity  to  combat  objections,  and  to  build  up  logic,  from  his 
own  resources  and  intelligence.  He  is  always  ready,  going  directly 
to  the  point,  and  meeting  every  issue  with  a  fairness  and  success, 
which  are  only  equaled  by  the  fervor  and  grandeur  of  his  elo- 
quence. 

204 


^7^^l^9 


REY.  JUSTUS  CLEMENT  FRENCH, 

P^.'^TOH     OF     THE      TFE^T3i:i]V©TEXt      I'REiSiBYTE- 
KX^Pf    CHURCTT,    I5ROOIvEY>. 


in^jj)  EY.  JUSTUS  CLEMENT  FRENCH  was  born  at  Barre, 

^   Vermont,  May  3(1,  1831.      He  ]-eceived  early  academic 

,,i^    instruction,  and  was  graduated  at  Williams  Collesre,  Mas- 
(W0^  .  ^     .  .  .    . 

^"""■^    sachusetts,  in  1853.     His  studies  for  tlie  ministry  were 

pursued  at  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1856.  He  was  ordained  March  5th,  1857, 
and  became  settled  over  the  Central  Congregational  Church,  in 
Ormond  Place,  Brooklyn.  The  church  edifice  was  handsomely  im- 
proved at  that  time.  His  pastorate  here  continued  for  fourteen  years. 
In  November,  1870,  he  resigned  under  the  compulsion  of  the  most 
gi'ievous  necessity,  viz.:  his  utter  nervous  prostration,  the  result  of 
too  intense  and  prolonged  application  to  his  work.  This  was,  he 
states,  the  great  trial  of  his  life.  His  people  would  not  consent  to 
the  separation,  until  his  peremptory  demand  made  it  inevitable.  Then, 
presenting  him  with  several  thousand  dollars,  they  bade  him  seek  re- 
storation. In  January,  1871,  he  left  for  California,  and  spent  nearly 
six  months  on  the  Pacific  coast ;  laid  there  the  foundation  of  renewed 
health;  returned  to  the  East,  and  for  six  months  preached  from  city 
to  city,  receivmg  and  declining  seven  calls,  until  in  November  of  that 
year,  he  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  the  Westminster  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Brooklyn,  to  supply  its  pulpit  for  six  months,  as 
he  would  on  no  account  accept  its  call  given  at  that  date. 

This  congregation  was  organized  in  South  Brooklyn  in  1855,  and 
worship  was  first  held  in  a  hall.  In  1856  lots  were  purchased  on  the 
corner  of  Clinton  street  and  First  Place,  at  a  cost  of  thirteen  thousand 
dollars,  in  the  rear  part  of  which  a  chapel  was  erected,  costing  seven 
thousand  dollars.  Other  improvements  were  subsequently  made  at  a 
large  outlay  of  money.  Professor  Hitchcock  preached  for  some  time; 
but  the  first  called  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Hugh  Smith  Carpenter,  who 
came  m  1857,  and  remained  until  near  the  date  when  Mr.  French  took 


205 


E  E  V.     JUSTUS     C  L  E  M  E  y  T     F  R  E  Is  C  H . 

charge.  A^  earlj-  as  March,  1872,  the  prosperity  of  tlie  churcli,  under 
Ml".  French,  became  so  positive  and  assured,  and  his  own  health  was 
so  firmly  re-established  that  he  accepted  the  unanimous  call  of  the 
congregation,  and  was  installed  Marcli  6th,  1872.  Eev.  Mr.  Carpenter 
was  called  to  the  Howard  street  Presbyterian  Church  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  Dr.  Scudder,  a  former  pastor  of  that  church,  was  called  to 
the  Central  Congregational  of  Brooklyn.  A  perfect  pastoral  trian- 
gulation  was  effected  by  these  changes. 

Since  1872  the  membership  of  tlie  Westminster  Church  has  more 
than  doubled  in  number,  the  Sunday  School  nearly  quadrupled,  the 
congregation  increased  in  a  ten-fold  ratio,  and  the  financial  condition 
of  the  Society  become  most  satisfactoiy. 

As  one  result  of  Mr.  French's  California  trip  he  prepared,  in  the 
winter  of  1.873,  thi-ee  lectures,  wliich  ]ie  illustrated  by  cai-toons 
drawn  by  himself  with  colored  chalks  and  crayons  on  canvas  paper. 
These  cartoons  are  seven  feet  by  four  and  a  half  feet.  The  lectures 
have  been  delivered  repeatedly  before  immense  audiences,  and  receiv- 
ed from  the  press  most  favorable  notice. 

Mr.  French  has  published  various  sermons  of  great  power  and 
beauty  of  language.  During  his  college  days  he  wrote  numerous 
poetic  effusions  of  more  than  ordinary  merit.  At  the  present  time, 
in  hours  of  relaxation  from  severer  literary  toil,  he  occasionally 
cultivates  the  Muses. 

His  head  is  long,  with  considerable  expression  about  the  brow. 
His  expression  is  most  happy  and  smiling.  In  his  manners  he  is 
exceedingly  polite  and  cordial,  and  in  his  conversation  there  is 
generally  a  tendency  to  cheerfulness.  His  social  qualities  are  deserv- 
edly appreciated,  and  his  presence  is  the  certain  promoter  of  geniality. 
Without  effort,  without  hesitation  or  ceremony,  he  mingles  with  all, 
oLl  and  young,  with  a  happy  adaptability  of  manners  and  conversa- 
tion that  always  interests,  pleases,  and  captivates. 

His  writings  are  fcai'less,  graceful,  and  eloquent.  The  strong 
convictions  of  his  mind  and  the  melting  emotions  of  his  heart  are 
infused  in  every  line.  He  can  feel  nothing,  he  can  write  nothing, 
that  is  not  honest,  true,  and  good.  He  brings  everything  to  the  test 
of  a  quick  and  vigilant  conscience,  and  of  an  honorable  and  courag- 
eous nature.  If  it  stands  the  examination,  none  can  be  a  bolder 
champion  ;  and  if  its  fails,  none  will  be  a  more  determined  foe. 
Hence,  in  the  discussion  of  all  principles,  doctrines,  and  themes,  he 
advocates  or  denounces,  with  a  nature  fully  aroused  to  the  require- 


RET.     JUSTUS     CLEMENT     FEENCH. 

ments  of  duty,  and  with  every  power  of  mind  strengthened  for  the 
issue. 

Mr.  French  has  evidently  made  declamation  somewhat  of  a  study, 
but  he  has  natural  capabilities  of  the  first  order  as  an  orator.  He 
delivers  himself  with  calmness,  effectiveness,  and  entire  naturalness. 
There  is,  on  his  own  part,  a  full  and  complete  understanding  of  his 
subject ;  and  the  flow  of  language  in  making  this  clear  to  others  is 
one  uninterrupted  stream  of  fluent,  earnest  thought  His  writings 
have  much  terseness  and  gTammatical  accuracy,  and  in  speaking  he 
is  usually  careful  to  make  every  word  do  its  necessaiy  and  effective 
part.     His  gestures  are  few  and  simple,  while  highly  appropriate. 

Mr.  French  is  a  working,  practical,  thorough-going  Christian.  He 
makes  no  compromises  and  asks  no  favors  of  the  adversary,  and  has 
little  patience  with  those  who  do.  Of  a  most  cheerful,  hopeful  spirit, 
enjoying  society  and  its  pleasures  with  a  generous  though  sensible 
limit,  and  melting  sadness  and  seiiousness  into  joy  and  mirth  when- 
ever it  can  be  profitably  accomplished,  still  he  never  forgets  the  pur- 
pose, dignity,  and  importance  of  his  religious  calling.  "Without  de- 
grading the  minister,  he  consents  to  exhibit  the  man ;  and,  without 
turning  his  directing  finger  from  the  open  gates  on  high,  he  has  a 
hand  to  scatter  flowers  along  the  earthly  road. 

207 


EEY.  OCTAYIUS  B.  FEOTHINGHAM, 

PASTOR     OF     THE    TIIIRO    UlVITA.ltIA.TV    CHUUCH, 


SJEY.  OCTAYIUS  B.  FEOTHINGHAM  was  bora  in  the 
citj  of  Boston,  ISToveraber  26th,  1822.     His  early  studies 


were  at  the  Latin  Schoo],  He  was  gradnated  at  Harvard 
University  in  1843,  and  at  the  Divinity  School  in  1846. 
He  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  Unitarian  church,  and 
S  installed  as  pastor  of  the  JSToi-th  Church,  Salem,  March  10th, 
1847.  In  the  spring  of  1855  he  removed  to  Jersey  City,  where  he 
established  the  First  Unitarian  Church,  and  remained  four  years  as 
pastor.  He  next  accepted  a  call,  in  the  spring  of  1859,  to  the  Third 
Congregational  Unitarian  Society  of  Now  York,  which  position  he 
still  retains.  The  society  was  in  its  infancy,  and  services  were  held 
in  a  public  hall.  As  in  all  his  other  pastorships,  the  earnest  and 
well-directed  efforts  of  Mi-.  Frothingham  soon  showed  their  results 
in  a  large  numerical  increase  of  the  congregation.  Lots  were  ob- 
tained in  Fortieth  street,  near  Sixth  avenue,  and  a  church  built 
which  wa&  dedicated  in  May,  1863.  The  whole  cost  of  the  property 
was  forty  thousand  dollars.  A  debt  of  eighteen  thousand  dollars 
remained  on  the  ground  after  the  erection  of  the  church.  Some 
years  later  the  edifice  was  sold  to  Dr.  Alexander  R  Thompson's 
Eeformed  Congregation,  since  which  time  the  Third  Society  have 
worshiped  in  a  hall  on  Sixth  avenue.  The  congregation  is  one  of 
the  most  intellectual  which  assembles  in  New  York.  The  attendance 
is  about  five  hundred,  and  there  are  seventy  children  in  the  Sunday 
school.  This  society  represents  the  liberal  branch  of  the  Unitarian 
body,  differing  on  points  of  doctrine  from  such  Unitarians  as  Drs. 
Bellows  and  Farley.  Mr.  Frothingham's  publications  consist  of 
several  small  volumes,  and  various  occasional  sermons. 

We  take  the  following  eloquent  and  highly  original  extract  from 
a  sermon  entitled  "Seeds  and  Shells,"  preached  in  New  York,  No- 
vember 17th,  1861:  208 


RET.      OCT  A  VI  US     B.     FROTHINGHAM. 

"  Some  two  thousand  years  ago  a  regenerating  principle  became  embodied  in  the 
form  of  a  young  Galilean.  Year  after  year  it  lay  completely  hidden  in  that  germ 
of  earth.  The  frame  matured  into  manly  proportions,  and  grew  into  manly  beauty. 
The  wealth  of  heaven  and  earth  passed  into  it — the  air,  and  the  light,  and  the  great 
benedictions  of  the  skies  ;  it  collected  about  it  the  loveliest  things  ;  friendships 
attached  themselves  to  it ;  love  twined  around  it  the  fine  web  of  affection  ;  it  was 
moistened  by  the  dew  of  tears  ;  the  precious  bloom  of  human  associations  gathered 
thick  upon  it.  Decade  after  decade,  the  dear,  handsome  shell  of  mortality  kept 
from  hai'm  the  precious  seeds  of  life  it  contained.  The  tempests  of  a  wild  earthly 
career  blew  it  hither  and  thither  about  the  world  ;  it  was  beaten  up  and  down,  from 
\-illage  to  village,  by  wind  and  weather  ;  now  for  a  brief  space  finding  lodgment  in 
some  quiet  nook,  where  the  storm  could  not  touch  it,  nor  the  tramping  of  busy 
feet  molest  it  ;  but  speedily  whirled  away  again  by  the  gusts  of  circumstance,  and 
almost  buried  in  the  common  dust  of  the  highway.  Very  dear  to  a  few  loving 
hearts  was  that  mortal  casket  of  fiesh  ;  men  and  women  clung  to  it  as  to  all  that 
was  precious  to  them  in  existence.  They  thought  it  would  be  death  to  them,  and  a 
calamity  to  the  whole  world  if  any  fatal  harm  should  befall  it.  Those  merciful 
hands,  those  gracious  tones,  those  benignant  looks— how  could  they  lose  them  from 
human  sight  ?  They  should  all  die  in  his  death  ;  they  should  all  wither  in  his 
blighting.  Presently,  however,  violent  hands  tore  that  beautiful  covering  of  flesh 
in  pieces ;  in  the  very  prime  of  its  maturity,  in  the  very  bloom  of  its  loveliness, 
it  fell  assunder,  it  perished  ;  <he  few  who  had  been  graced  with  a  knowledge  of  its 
worth  abandoned  themselves  to  a  comfortless  grief.  But,  straightway',  behold  !  the 
divine  thought,  the  treasured  principle  which  that  lovely  casket  "was  made  to  hold, 
and  which  had  bscome  full  and  rich,  so  as  to  need  holding  no  longer,  assumes  a 
new  covering,  nobler  and  more  expa-asive  than  the  last.  The  inclosing  capsule  that 
contains  it  now  is  not  one  man,  but  a  body  of  men.  The  vital  force  has  passed 
into  society  :  it  has  become  a  law  of  life  in  some  hundreds  of  hearts  ;  it  has 
become  a  bond  of  union  between  them  all ;  it  has  collected  a  society  ;  it  has  founded 
an  organization  ;  it  has  embodied  itself  in  a  church  which  is  a  new  body  of  Christ, 
shaped,  and  molded,  and  animated  by  the  celestial  love  that,  while  Jesus  was  alive 
on  earth,  could  only  fling  its  ray  like  a  small  candle  into  a  thick  night. 

"And  now,  after  a  time,  . his  new  covering  hardens  ;  it  becomes  a  thick  com- 
pressed cru'^t  around  the  quick  spirit,  beneath  which  it  was  at  first  so  yielding. 
It  is  heavy  with  pendants  and  badges  ;  it  is  thick  with  symbols  and  rites  ;  it  is 
wrapped  all  about  with  the  stiff  parchments  of  statutes  and  creeds  ;  it  is  bound 
about  with  priesily  orders  ;  it  bristles  with  staffs  of  officers  ;  it  is  enervated  with 
monasteries  and  churches  ;  it  looks  eternal  with  its  towers  and  foundations,  its 
constitutions,  d(?cretals,  rubrics,  its  solid  institutions  and  absolute  weight  of 
dominion.  In  this  mighty  shell  of  the  church,  the  life  that  was  first  incarnate  in 
Jesus  lay  inertly  hidden  all  through  the  terrible  ages  of  violence,  when  it  must 
have  perished  had  it  been  less  stoutly  protected.  What  tempests  raved  around  it. 
All  the  elements  of  human  nature  were  let  loose  upon  it ;  war  beat  upon  it  with  its 
battle-axe  ;  fraud  and  rapine  and  power  and  ignorance  bored  into  it  with  their 
bits  and  pried  at  it  with  their  levers.  These  were  the  dark  ages  ;  but  the  church 
protected  the  seeds  of  truth  and  goodness  that  were  committed  to  it.  Men  said 
the  church  is  eternal,  the  church  is  unchangeable  ;  its  amity  cannot  be  broken  ;  its 
integrity  will  never  be  disturbed  ;  but  the  time  came  for  this  '  corn  of  wheat '  to 
fall  into  the  ground  and  die  ;  the  bands  were  loosened,  great  fissures  opened  in  its 
sides,  walls  sprung  and  fell  in,  and,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  preserve  it  by  clamps 
and  ligatures,  the  parts  di-opped  asunder.     There  was  a  shudder,  as  if  the  world 

2U-J 


REV.      OCT  A  VI  US     B.      FROTHIISTGHAM. 

was  coming  to  an  end.  The  truth  was,  the  world  was  coming  to  a  beginning  ;  the 
new  world  which  had  been  waiting  for  the  dying  of  the  body,  that  it  might  feed  on 
the  spirit,  which  alone  conld  give  life.  The  principles  of  our  modern  civilization, 
the  principles  of  our  modern  humanity,  would  never  have  been  what  they  are, 
would  never  have  been  ours  at  aU,  but  for  the  dropping  and  decay  of  that  mammoth 
institution  which  lor  half  a  thousand  years  had  been  identical  almost  with  the  very 
existence  cf  social  order. 

"  This  is  the  economy  of  nature  ;  seen  alike  in  the  rotting  of  seeds,  the  decay 
of  fruits,  the  dissolution  of  human  bodies,  t^e  breaking  up  of  customs,  establish- 
ments, institiitions,  no  matter  what  may  be  their  dimensions  or  their  character." 

Mr.  Frotbingham  is  rather  above  the  medium  height,  well  pro- 
portioned, and  altogether  of  an  elegant,  graceful  figure.  He  stands 
perfectly  erect,  and  there  is  about  him  everything,  in  the  physical  as 
well  as  mental  peculiarities,  to  attract  and  to  fascinate.  His  head  is 
of  laro^e  size,  with  finely  molded  features  of  the  highest  intel- 
lectual type.  His  brow  is  round  and  massive,  his  eyes  are  light  and 
full  of  expression,  and  his  whole  countenance  betokens  rare  and 
noble  qualities  of  both  manhood  and  mind.  In  his  manners  he  is 
the  polished  gentleman.  A  proper  dignity,  a  refined  tone,  and  a 
genial  kindness  pervade  his  demeanor  at  all  times. 

Mr,  Frothingham  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  minds  of  the  day. 
His  scholarship  is  thorough,  and,  more  than  this,  he  is  a  profound 
and  original  thinker.  His  learning  and  research  are  but  the  growth 
of  a  nature  naturally  refined,  full  of  intellectual  aspirations,  and 
guided  by  the  strongest  mental  powers.  He  was  born  for  a  scholar. 
Philosophy,  logic,  and  sentiment  are  elements  of  his  mental  nature 
as  much  as  the  senses  are  of  his  physical.  Hence  he  has  matured 
into  a  thinker  of  rare  ability.  It  is  delightful  to  hear  or  read  his 
written  pages.  They  are  couched  in  the  purest  and  most  elegant 
expressions  of  the  English  tongue,  and  they  show  a  reach  and  an 
originality  of  thought  which  cannot  but  arrest  the  intelligent  mind. 
He  is  progressive  ;  he  looks  onward  and  upward  in  everything  ;  and 
the  unprogressive,  and  the  timid,  and  short-sighted  may  feel 
alarm  at  his  bold  conceptions,  his  daring  prophesies,  and  aggressive 
purposes.  But  he  works  with  the  forces  of  intelligence  alone.  As 
far  as  these  will  carry  a  courageous,  ambitious  spirit,  so  far  will  he 
go,  and  no  further.  He  sounds  out  new  channels  of  thought,  he 
explores  new  paths  of  truth,  and  he  delves  into  the  very  caverns  of 
lore.  Powerful  to  think,  eloquent  to  declaim,  elegant  in  gesture,  he 
is  as  brilliant  an  example  of  intellectual  power  as  the  modern  pulpit 
presents. 

210 


REV.  JUSTm  D.  FULTOX,  D.  D., 

I»A.STOR,  OF    THE    H^IVSOIV    T*Lj\.CE    BAPTIST 
CJEJCXJRCH,      BROOItLYiV. 


liMjr  EY.  DR.  JUSTIN  D.  FITLTON  was  born  at  Sherburne, 
P  Madison  County,  ISTew  Yorlc,  March  1st,  1828.  When  eight 
''  Year«  of  age,  the  family  removed  to  Michigan.  He  had 
^^^^^  previously  attended  the  public  school  of  his  native  vil- 
lage, and  his  education  was  continued  under  man}^  disadvan- 
tages, after  the  removal.  At  tlie  age  of  nineteen,  in  1847, 
he  entered  the  University  of  Michigan  at  Ann  Harbor,  where  he 
passed  three  years.  He  nest  entered  the  senior  class  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Rochester,  then  just  founded,  and  was  gi'aduated  with  honor  in 
185L  Two  years  w^ere  devoted  to  a  course  in  the  Theological  school 
connected  with  the  University,  and  in  1853  he  was  ordained  to  the 
ministry  of  the  Baptist  church. 

He  immediately  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  edited  the  Gospel 
Banner  for  two  years.  The  slavery  excitement  finalty  broke  up  the 
newspaper  enterprise.  In  1855,  Dr.  Fulton  became  the  pastor  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  at  Sandusky,  Ohio,  and  later,  in  the  fall  of  1859,  he 
accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorship  of  the  Tabernacle  Church  at  Albany, 
New  York.  Here  he  spent  four  years  in  a  very  successful  ministry. 
In  January,  1864,  he  was  invited  to  the  charge  of  the  Tremont  Tem- 
ple congregation,  in  Boston,  where  he  remained  nine  years.  When  he 
went  to  Boston,  he  found  the  congregation  much  reduced,  having  but 
fifty  members  remaining,  and  the  income  was  only  eight  hundred 
dollars  a  year.  During  his  term  of  ministry,  which  was  most  efficient 
and  powerful  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it,  the  membersliip  increased 
to  one  thousand,  and  the  income  to  twenty-one  thousand  dollars.  In 
1872,  Dr.  Fulton  was  called  to  his  present  field,  the  Hanson  Place 
Baptist  Church  of  Brooklyn.  This  congi-egation  was  organized  about 
twenty  j'cars  ago,  and  formerly  worshiped  in  Atlantic  street.  They 
at  length  erected  a  large  brick  church  edifice  in  Hanson  Place,  and 

have  since  been  a  strong  and  influential  body. 

211 


REV.     JUSTIN"     D.      FULTON",     D.  T>. 

Dr.  Fulton  is  an  able  writer,  and  has  published  a  large  number  of 
books  and  pamphlets.  Among  others  are  "  The  Roman  Catholic 
element  in  America  ; "  "  Life  of  Timothy  Grilbert,  the  Founder  of  the 
Tremont  Temple;"  "The  True  Woman;"  "Rome  in  America." 
A  tract  on  the  Sabbath  had  a  sale  of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
copies.  He  has  written  a  great  deal  on  the  subject  of  temperance, 
and,  in  fact,  on  all  the  reforms  of  the  day.  One  purpose  in  his  re- 
moval to  Brooklyn,  was  to  establish,  through  the  aid  of  the  congre- 
gation to  which  he  was  called,  a  paper  to  give  currency  to  his  ser- 
mons and  writings  on  reforms. 

We  quote  from  another  the  following  personal  description  of  Dr. 
Fulton : 

"The  deportment  of  Dr.  Fulton  in  the  pulpit  is  entirely  original,  as  distin- 
guished from  that  of  any  of  the  other  leading  preachers  in  this  city.  His  dress  is 
plain  bnt  neat.  His  step  to  and  from  the  desk  is  elastic,  and  altogether  devoid  of 
any  aim  at  formality.  His  voice  is  not  subjected  to  any  severe  test  by  atfected  and 
unnatural  efforts  at  false  intonation,  and  yet,  while  his  words  roll  fast  and  furiously 
after  each  other,  as  if  each  one  of  them  was  a  rival  messenger  from  a  warm,  zealous, 
and  earnest  heart,  they  are  modulated  in  their  rising  and  filling,  but  never  at  the 
expense  of  the  speaker's  fervor.  In  his  manuscript,  fine  rhetoric  abounds,  but  that 
is  frequently  deserted  for  the  resistless  impulse  which  the  preacher  obeys  as  he  steps 
to  either  side  of  the  desk,  or  springs  back  fr  ^m  it  to  pour  forth  his  eloquent  and 
thrilling  practical  appeals,  or  to  cite  his  telling  illustrations  in  support  of  them. 

Dr.  Fulton  enjoys  a  wide  reputation  as  an  eloquent  and  impressive 
preacher,  a  fluent  and  pointed  writer,  and,  in  all  labor,  one  of  the  most 
earnest  and  practical  of  men.  Always  an  industrious  student,  his 
ability  in  scholarship  is  enlarged  and  thorough,  while  his  gifts  as  an 
orator  and  writer  are  of  that  original  and  splendid  kind,  which  can- 
not fail  to  command  attention.  In  all  his  pastorships  he  has  labored 
witli  great  success,  constantly  widening  the  scope  of  his  influence 
and  the  bounds  of  his  fl\me.  Peculiar,  marked,  and  effective  in  all 
his  characteristics,  whether  of  the  mental  or  physical  nature,  he  occu- 
pies a  position  at  once  of  prominence  and  power.  For  religion  and 
reform  he  is  ever  a  zealous  champion,  doing  battle  on  every  hand, 
without  fear  or  favor.  Witli  a  conscience  keenly  sensitive  to  the  de- 
mands of  dutj^,  he  has  the  talents,  courage,  and  energy  which  make 
his  efforts  successful  in  whatever  direction  he  feels  called  upon  to  de- 
vote them.  212 


REY.   HENRY   M.   GALLAHER, 

1«A.TE     I»A.STOIl     OF     TliE     FIRST     BAPTIST 


lEV.  HENRY  M.  GALLAHER  was  bora  at  Castlebar, 
Ireland,  September,  11th,  1833.  He  came  to  tlie  United 
States  in  1850,  and,  after  spending  some  time  in  the  State 
of  Connecticut,  went  to  the  West  In  June,  1861,  he  was 
graduated  at  Shurtleff  College,  a  Baptist  histitution,  at 
~iS  Upper  Alton,  Illinois,  where  he  had  passed  six  years  in  prepar- 
atory and  theological  studies.  He  had  been  licensed  to  the  Baptist 
ministry  in  1857,  and  preached  his  first  sermon  at  Springfield.  Im- 
mediately upon  his  graduation,  he  settled  at  Quincy  as  the  pastor  of 
the  "Vermont  street  Baptist  Church,  which  position  he  held  for  three 
years.  He  next  accepted  a  call  to  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, where  he  assumed  his  duties  August  1st,  1864.  Several  years 
since,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Broad  street  Church,  Elizabeth, 
New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Gallaher  has  wntten  much  on  political  subjects  in  the  j^a- 
pers.     He  is  a  popular  lecturer  throughout  the  country. 

Mr.  Gallaher  is  of  the  medium  height,  of  good  proportions,  and 
erect  figure.  His  face  and  whole  appearance  is  very  plain,  and, 
while  he  looks  altogether  an  humble-minded,  unobtrusive  person, 
there  is  a  quickness  iii  his  eyes  and  a  general  intelligence  about  his 
countenance,  which  show  him  to  be  a  man  of  thought  and  ability. 
He  has  a  head  of  the  average  size,  with  regular  features,  and  wears 
his  hair  combed  behind  his  ears.  He  is  affable  and  genial  with  all 
classes  of  people.  A  peculiarity  about  him,  at  all  times,  is  a  nervous 
impulsiveness,  which  often  boi'ders  on  excitement. 

Entering  the  pulpit,  he  falls  carelessly  into  a  seat,  runs  his  fin- 

grers  through  his  hair,  moves  the  books  about,  crosses  first  one  leg, 

213 


REV.     HENRY    M.     GALLAHER. 

and  then  the  other,  and  in  many  ways  gives  token  of  this  ever-present 
nervousness.  At  the  proper  time,  with  a  sudden  start,  he  takes  his 
place  at  the  desk,  and  begins  the  services  with  nervous  abruptness. 
Should  he  read  a  hynm,  he  holds  the  book  by  one  corner,  allowing 
the  cover  to  fall,  while  with  the  hand  that  is  free  he  fumbles  the  cor- 
ners of  the  Bible.  In  prayer  his  hands  sweep  all  over  the  same 
book,  sometimes  between  the  leaves,  and  then  over  the  pages, 
and  occasionally  he  gives  a  turn  to  the  hymn-book.  Meanwhile 
a  torrent  of  words  is  falling  from  him.  There  is  no  cessation — 
no  pause — no  breath-taking  about  it.  As  fast  as  lie  can  speak — 
hurrying,  crowding,  lapping  one  word  upon  another — they  are 
poured  forth,  rather  than  intelligibly  articulated.  These  singular 
mannerisms,  and  this  extraordinary  volubility  of  speech  weaken, 
but  do  not  destroy  the  impressions  of  his  prayer.  His  whole 
soul  is  in  it,  and  he  evidently  feels  the  inspiration  of  spiritual 
communion.  It  seems  as  if  he  could  pray  thus  on  and  on  for  hours. 
There  is  no  hesitation  for  a  new  theme  of  petition  any  more  than 
there  is  a  deficiency  in  words  to  express  it.  Topic  after  topic  is  taken 
up,  all  with  the  same  earnestness,  the  same  Chiistian  love,  and  the 
same  ardor  of  faith.  At  length,  alone  from  exhaustion,  he  abruptly 
checks  himself,  opens  his  eyes,  and  proceeds  to  the  other  services 
with  a  continued  nervousness.  When  he  reads,  it  is  with  the  same 
haste,  speaking  iu  a  loud  key,  and  then  very  low,  in  holy  al)straction 
more  than  to  give  a  correct  elocutionary  reading  of  the  passage. 
Here  again,  notwithstanding  his  peculiarities,  he  is  very  effective — 
there  is  honest  feeling  in  his  tone,  and  the  words  which  he  wishes  to 
press  home  to  others  have  already  touched  his  own  sensibilities. 

His  sermons  are  written  out  quite  fully,  but  his  nervousness  is 
such  that  he  reads  but  little  from  the  manuscript.  He  repeats  a  line 
or  two,  when  he  rushes  to  the  front  of  the  pulpit,  and  delivers  him- 
self of  the  thoughts  which  crowd  upon  him  faster  than  he  can  speak 
them.  His  self-possession,  for  a  young  man,  is  very  great,  and  he 
speaks  with  the  full  power  of  the  natural  orator.  He  does  not  talk 
as  rapidly  as  in  his  prayer  and  reading,  but  still  he  has  an  extraor- 
dinary command  of  language.  You  notice  the  accent  of  the  Irishman 
very  decidedly,  and  in  his  style  of  thought  and  emotional  utterance 
there  are  to  be  found  other  characteristics  of  his  nation.  The  order  of 
his  sermon  is  well  preserved  in  his  memory,  and  however  much  he 
may  be  carried  off  into  extemporaneous  outbursts,  the  argument  is 

logically  maintained.     He  moves  nervously  from  side  to  side  of  the 

214 


EEV.     HENRY    M,     GALLAHER. 

pulpit;  he  places  himself  against  the  large  gas-fixture,  or  lie  leans 
forward,  looking  into  the  very  eyes  of  the  people.  Sometimes  his 
hands  are  in  his  pockets,  sometimes  under  his  coat-tails,  and  some- 
times in  his  hair.  His  arms  cleave  the  air  in  every  gesture  ever  at- 
tempted, and  his  body  assumes  every  attitude  which  can  be  made 
expressive  of  feeling.  All  the  time  he  talks,  and  talks  well.  It  is 
not  mere  declamation,  mere  wordy  outbursts,  mere  eloquence,  but  it 
is  comprehensive  thought,  practical  religious  instruction,  and  candid 
counsel.  To  be  sure  there  is  a  want  of  polish  and  dignity  in  many 
of  his  ways,  and  his  forms  of  expression  are  not  always  the  most 
scholarly,  but  he  stands  in  the  equall}^  noble  proportion  of  an  emi- 
nently common-sense  Christian  teacher.  Neither  crowds  nor  places 
put  any  restraint  upon  him.  Dignity,  and  what  he  would  call  prud- 
ish refinements,  give  him  no  "concern;  but  his  desire  is  to  seem,  as 
he  truly  feels,  no  higher  than  the  humblest.  The  conventionalities 
of  the  clerical  life  and  the  vanities  of  human  nature  do  not  disturb 
him,  while  manly  uprightness  and  the  lofty  Christian  character  are 
his  sole  ambition. 

Mr.  Gallaher  is  an  excellent  singer,  and  it  is  his  custom  to  join 
with  his  congregation,  leading  them  in  a  manner  not  often  seen  on 
the  part  of  a  minister.  We  noticed  another  peculiarity  in  his  trans- 
ferring himself  from  the  pulpit  to  the  lobby,  wliere  he  shook  hands 
with  all  passing  from  the  building. 

215 


REV.  THOMAS  GALLAUDET,  1).  D., 


EY.  DR  THOMAS  GALLAUDET  was  born  in  Hart- 
fiml,  Connecticut,  June  8d,  1822.  His  fatlier  was  the 
Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet,  LL.  D.,  a  Congregational 
minister,  who  founded  the  first  Institution  for  Deaf 
Mutes  in  the  United  States,  at  Hartford,  in  1817,  and  his 
mother,  before  her  marriage,  was  Miss  Sophia  Fowler,  a  born 
deaf  mute,  and  one  of  Dr.  Gallaudet's  first  pupils.  She  is  still  liv- 
ing, and  is  the  matron  of  the  Institution  for  Deaf  Mutes  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  Dr.  Thomas  Gallaudet  is  the  eldest  of  eight  children,  all 
living  but  one.  He  was  graduated  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  in 
1842,  and  taught  in  Connecticut  for  one  year.  In  September,  1845, 
he  became  an  instructor  in  the  Institution  for  Deaf  Mutes  in  ISTew 
Zork,  and  soon  after  a  communicant  of  St.  Paul's  Chapel.  He  was 
admitted  by  the  late  Bishop  Onderdonk  as  a  candidate  for  holy 
orders,  and  pursued  his  theological  studies  privately.  In  July,  1845, 
he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  R  Budd,  only  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  B. 
W.  Budd,  of  New  York,  and  a  graduate  of  the  New  York  Institu- 
tion for  Deaf  Mutes.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in  the  summer  of 
1850,  at  St.  Stephen's  Church,  New  York,  by  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Whittingham,  of  Marvland,  and  here  he  preached  his  first  sermon. 
For  about  a  year  he  w-:«  assistant  minister  at  St.  Stephen's,  though 
still  teaching  daily  at  the  institution  for  Deaf  Mutes.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1851  he  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop  Delancey,  of  Western 
New  York,  at  Grace  Church,  Brooklyn.  During  1851-2,  he  officia- 
ted mostly  at  St.  Paul's,  Morrisania,  and  had  a  weekly  ev^ening  Bible 
class  for  educated  deaf  mutes  in  New  York — first  in  the  vestry- room 
of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  and  then  at  No.  59  Bond  street.  Says  Dr. 
Gallaudet,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  us :  "I  was  called  upon  from  time 
to  time  to  act  as  pastor  among  these  deaf  mutes,  residents  of  our 
city — baptizing  some,  presenting  some  for  confirmation,  and  receiv- 


-p 


^^c^^i^!^ 


REV.      THOMAS     GALLAUDET,     D,  D, 

ing  some  to  the  liolj  communion.  At  last  the  tliought  entered  mj 
mind  that  I  would  found  a  church  in  which  the  adult  deaf  mutes 
might  find  a  spiritual  home.  The  first  services  were  held  in  October, 
1852,  in  the  small  chapel  of  the  New  York  ITniversitj.  The  church 
was  incorporated  under  the  title  of  '  St.  Ann's  Church  for  Deaf 
Mutes.'  In  November,  1857,  we  removed  to  the  lecture-room  of  the 
Historical  Society  building,  corner  of  Second  avenue  and  Eleventh 
street  In  the  fall  of  1858  I  resigned  mj  connection  with  the  Insti- 
tution, to  give  myself  more  exclusively  to  my  duties  as  rector  of  St 
Ann's.  In  Jidy,  1859,  we  purchased  our  present  projDcrty  in  Eigh- 
teenth street,  near  Fifth  avenue,  including  the  church  and  rectory, 
and  the  four  lots  on  which  they  stand,  for  seventy  thousand  dollars. 
As  is  now  well  known,  we  have  three  services  at  St  Ann's  Church 
every  Sunday,  the  afternoon  being  for  deaf  mutes.  At  the  other 
services,  (conducted  as  in  any  other  Episcopal  church,)  frequent  in- 
terpretations by  signs  are  given  for  the  benefit  of  deaf  mutes.  Our 
church  is  entirely  free^  supported  by  the  free-will  offerings  of  the 
worshipers.  As  rector  of  St  Ann's  Church,  I  strive  to  do  all  in  my 
power  to  promote  the  temporal  nnd  spiritual  welfare  of  the  deaf 
mutes,  residents  of  this  great  city  and  its  suburbs.  When  thev  are 
out  of  work  I  get  situations  for  them.  I  visit  them  and  minister  to 
their  necessities  in  time  of  sickness  and  trouble.  I  have  received  many 
to  the  communion.  The  kind-hearted  hearing  and  speaking  persons, 
who  have  gathered  around  these  our  deaf  mute  brethren  in  parish  re- 
lations, have  assisted  me  greatly  in  my  work." 

Dr.  Gallaudet  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Trinity  College, 
in  July,  1862,  just  twenty  years  after  his  graduation.  He  has  pub- 
lished various  pamphlets  in  relation  to  his  church,  and  several  ser- 
mons. He  is  the  author  of  a  popular  Christmas  Carol,  entitled  "  The 
Day  of  Days."  Through  his  instrumentality,  monthly  religious  ser- 
vices were  established  in  Boston  and  Philadelphia;  and  finallv 
regular  Sunday  services  in  Pliiladelphia,  Baltimore,  Albany,  and 
Boston.  Occasionally  they  are  held  in  other  cities.  St  Ann's  is  the 
only  church  in  the  United  States  which  takes  any  special  interest  in 
the  graduates  of  the  various  institutions  for  the  deaf  mutes.  The 
deaf  mute  community  of  the  United  States  number  upward  of  twenty 
tliousand. 

Dr.  Gallaudet  and  his  deaf  mute  wife  have  been  blessed  with 

seven  children  (five  daughters  and  two  sons)  having  all  their  facul- 

217 


REV.     THOMAS     GALLAUDET,     D.  D. 

ties.  They  have  learned  the  signs  and  spoken  language,  so  as  to 
converse  readily  with  both  father  and  mother. 

Dr.  Gallaudet  is  about  of  the  medium  height,  and  has  a  fair  com- 
plexion and  light  hair.  His  face  is  a  likeness  of  his  heart.  It  is 
truly  benevolent  in.  every  lineament.  He  has  a  fine  brow,  though 
the  lower  portion  of  the  face  is  more  long  than  broad.  His  eyes  are 
soft  and  gentle,  and  his  voice  is  ever  kindly  and  sincere.  No  man 
could  be  better  adapted  for  the  duties  of  a  teacher  and  pastor  among 
such  an  afflicted  class  of  human  beings  as  the  deaf  mutes.  One  look 
at  him  is  sufficient  to  awaken  their  entire  confidence  and  love.  There 
is  a  benignity  which  satisfies  the  longings  of  their  saddened  spirits, 
and  there  is  a  gentleness  of  manner  which  tells  them  of  sympathy 
and  regard.  In  his  presence  their  hearts  feel  less  desolate,  and  the 
golden  sunshine  chases  the  gloom  from  their  paths.  Recoiling  from 
the  cold-hearted,  thoughtless  world,  they  are  made  aware  of  a  kind- 
ness which  they  lamented  as  extinct ;  they  are  aroused  to  effort  by 
friendly  encouragement ;  and  they  are  invoked  to  repentance  by  a 
language  which  is  in  signs  of  their  own. 

There  has  been  much  to  inspire  Dr.  Gallaudet  to  his  constantly 
extending  labors  in  behalf  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  condition  of 
the  deaf  mutes.  It  should  be  remembered  that  he  is  the  son  of  a 
mother  thus  limited  in  her  faculties,  and  yet  devoting  a  great  intelli- 
gence to  the  elevation  and  happiness  of  her  class — the  son  of  a  father 
whose  name  is  to  be  forever  memorable  by  reason  of  the  great  phil- 
anthropy and  varied  talents  which  he  devoted  to  the  founding  of  the 
first  institution  for  deaf  mutes  in  this  noble  land,  and  the  husband  of 
a  lady  who  is  one  of  the  crowning  examples  of  the  triumph  of  mind 
over  misfortune.  His  efforts  have  been  prompted  by  teachings  al- 
most from  the  cradle  ;  and  they  have  been  encouraged  by  results 
which  brought  joy  to  those  of  his  own  love.  Vouchsafed  himself  to 
hear  and  speak,  he  has  made  it  his  patient,  self-denying  task  to  in- 
struct those  not  similarly  blessed  in  a  mode  of  intelligent  signs  by 
which  art  seeks  to  supply,  in  a  measure,  the  short-comings  of  nature. 
He  has  worked  earnestly,  and  with  great  success.  Many  afflicted 
beings,  through  his  excellent  teaching,  have  become  educated  mutes, 
and  thus  attained  to  a  new  and  brighter  existence.  Their  minds 
have  been  carefully  cultured,  they  have  been  prepared  for  different 
occupations  of  life,  and  the  way  once  so  dark  and  difficult  has  been 
made  plain  and  happy.  Much  was  gained,  but  Dr.  Gallaudet  felt 
painfully  conscious  that  there  was  still  a  want  unsupplied.      The 


REV.     THOMAS     GALLAUDET,     D.  D. 

deaf  mutes  had  no  cliurcti  organization ;  there  was  no  altar  where 
thej  could  gather  understandingly ;  no  pastor  who  was  devoted  to 
their  spiritual  welfare.  He  resolved  to  found  such  a  church,  to  ex- 
tend the  Christian  invitation  from  such  an  altar,  and  to  fully  assume 
the  duties  of  such  a  pastor.  The  undertaking  presented  vast  obsta- 
cles, and  was  only  to  be  accomplished  by  faith  in  God's  providence 
and  by  unceasing  toil.  Hopeful  and  courageous,  he  entered  upon 
his  darling  scheme,  and  has  persevered  with  that  enthusiasm  which 
deserves  and  generally  obtains  success.  He  finds  that  he  has  laid 
broad  foundations  for  a  great  and  good  work,  and  that  it  prospers 
even  beyond  his  most  sanguine  expectations.  The  congregation 
gains  in  numbers,  a  heavy  debt  is  rapidly  decreasing,  and  at  an  early 
period  there  will  be  a  church  free  to  deaf  mutes  and  all  others. 
Greater  publicity  is  given  to  the  cause  of  the  deaf  mutes,  and  their 
interest  has  become  the  concern  of  many  new  and  powerful  friends. 
All  this  is  mainly  due  to  the  energetic,  self-sacrificing  efforts  of  Dr. 
Gallaudet,  and  justly  entitle  him  to  universal  applause. 

He  is  a  man  of  liberal  attainments,  and  a  fluent,  earnest  preacher. 
In  his  public  appearances  he  seeks  no  display.  He  is  most  modest 
in  his  bearing,  but  convinces  all  of  his  virtues,  merits,  and  piety. 
He  adopts  plain,  comprehensive  language,  which  is  spoken  with 
much  earnestness  of  manner  and  warmth  of  appeal.  But  he  is  at  no 
time  more  sublimely  the  Christian  teacher  than  when  his  lips  are 
motionless,  and  he  is  delivering  holy  truths  by  perfect  and  eloquent 
signs.  Those  whom  the  sweetest  sound  could  not  attract,  and  who 
are  mute  to  all  utterance  forever,  receive  intelligibly  the  message  of 
grace.  It  is  a  triumph  beyond  oratory.  It  is  a  presentation  of  the 
argument  of  faith  in  a  new  discovered  tongue.  It  is  the  anointing 
of  souls  which  otherwise  might  go  unhealed  into  eternity. 

219 


REY.   JOIIK   N.   GALLEHER, 

Hl^CI^OK      OF      ZIOIV      ET»ISCOPA.L.      CHURCH, 
NEW    YORIt. 


I EV.  JOHN  N.  GALLEHER  was  born  in  Mason  county, 
Kentucky,  February  17th,  1839.  After  pursuing  aca- 
demic studies  in  that  count}",  he  entered  the  Latin  School 
of  the  LTniversity  of  Virginia,  where  he  was  graduated  in 
1858.  He  went  to  Louisiana,  but  returned  to  Kentucky 
^  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  and  he  became  a  private  in  the 
command  of  General  Albert  S.  Johnston.  Acting  as  secretary  of 
General  Buckner,  he  went  to  the  front,  and,  taking  part  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Fort  Donelson,  he  was  captured  and  sent  a  prisoner  first  to 
Camp  Chase  in  Ohio,  and  then  to  Fort  Warren  in  Boston  harbor. 
In  Jul}^,  1862,  he  was  exchanged,  when  he  received  an  appointment 
to  the  staff  of  General  Buckner,  and  with  him  accompanied  General 
Bragg's  famous  expedition  into  Kentucky.  He  subsequently  held 
the  different  ranks  of  captain,  assistant  adjutant-general,  and  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  in  the  Trans-Miss- 
issippi Department,  still  on  the  staff  of  General  Buckner. 

He  then  commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  was  graduated  at  the 
law  school  of  Judge  Brockenbrough  at  Lexington,  Yirginia,  in  1866. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  practiced 
for  one  3^ear.  At  this  date  he  determined  to  become  a  candidate  for 
holy  orders  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  and,  accordingly,  took  a  j)artial 
theological  course  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  New  York. 
In  June,  1868,  he  was  made  a  deacon  at  Christ  Church,  Louisville, 
by  Assistant  Bishop  Cummins  of  Kentucky.  He  remained  as  assist- 
ant to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Clark,  at  Christ  Church,  until  January,  1869, 
when  he  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  Trinity  Church,  New  Or- 
leans, as  the  successor  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  W.  Beckwith,  who  had 
been  elected  Bishop  of  Georgia.  He  was  admitted  to  the  priesthood 
in  June,  1869,  at  Trinity  Church,  New  Orleans,  by  Bishop  Wilmer  of 


REV.  JOHX  N.  GALLEHER. 

Louisiana.  He  continued  in  that  parish  for  neariy  three  years, 
when,  in  the  fall  of  1871,  he  was  called  to  Memorial  Church,  Bal- 
timore, from  which  he  was  called,  September  21st,  1873,  to  Zion 
Church,  on  Madison  Avenue,  New  York. 

At  an  earl}'  period  tliis  congregation  was  Lutheran,  but  became 
united  with  the  Episcopal  denomination  in  1810.  This  action 
was  taken  by  reason  of  a  change  in  the  religious  views  of  both  pas- 
tor and  people.  For  a  long  period  they  worshiped  in  Mott  street. 
In  1835  their  present  edifice,  on  the  corner  of  Madison  avenue  and 
Thirty-eighth  street,  was  erected, 

Mr.  Galleher  is  above  the  medium  height,  with  a  round,  erect 
person.  He  has  a  stately,  dignified  walk,  and  his  manners  at  all 
times  give  evidence  of  the  composed,  self-possessed  character.  A 
slight  reserve  with  strangers  disappears  on  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance. His  head  is  large,  and  firmly  placed  on  his  shoulders.  The 
whole  face  is  full  of  expression.  In  all  respects  both  the  physical 
and  mental  powers  show  great  development.  Often  in  the  man  of 
Southern  birth  you  observe  more  that  is  impulsive  than  you  do  in 
Mr.  Galleher,  for  while  he  is  quick  to  feel  and  determine,  still  he  is 
never  hasty,  never  excited,  and  never  without  method.  The  fact 
is,  he  is  by  nature  a  person  of  cool  reflectiveness,  and  his  large  ex- 
perience in  the  world  has  trained  and  subdued  him  even  more  to 
the  direction  of  his  own  calm  will.  Hence  in  the  pastoral  and  all 
other  work  he  is  a  safe  counselor  and  an  unwearying  laborer.  He 
has  penetration  and  foresight,  and  he  has  a  steady  patience  and  en- 
ergy. His  agreeable  personal  character  and  his  life  of  piety  go  far 
to  make  him  admu-ed  and  influential,  but  his  success  is  secured  by 
practical  wisdom  and  perseverance  in  action  which  are  always 
equally  apparent.  In  all  branches  of  the  pastoral  duty,  in  preaching 
and  in  writing,  in  the  Sunday  School,  and  in  works  of  benevolence, 
he  is  always  conspicuous  for  fidelity  to  every  claim  upon  him,  and 
for  the  highest  ability  in  his  mode  of  discharging  them.  Showing 
deep  convictions  of  his  responsibility,  he  is  found  constantly  labor- 
ing in  his  appointed  place,  with  results  at  once  significant  of  his 
judgment,  talents,  and  faithfulness.  In  the  pulpit  his  gifts  as  a 
speaker,  his  originality  cjf  thought,  and  his  polish  of  language  are 
not  less  effective. 

Mr.  Galleher  went  into  the  ministry  from  the  deepest  personal 

conviction.     Already  in  a  profession  offering  the  widest  scope  for 

talents  and  ambition,  he  prepai-ed  himself  for  another  of  a  sacred 

221 


REV.    JOHN    N.    GALLEHEE. 

character  on  the  promptings  of  a  converted  heart.  His  opportunity 
for  observation  among  men  has  been  greater  than  is  generally  the 
case  with  clergymen,  and  this  circumstance  has  given  him  addi- 
tional power  in  his  preaching  and  other  efforts.  He  is  no  stranger 
to  the  world  or  men  in  the  conflict  between  good  and  evil.  Conse- 
quently, he  is  a  very  effective  preacher  in  dealing  with  the  tempta- 
tions of  life,  and  human  opportunities  and  hopes.  On  these  subjects, 
especially,  he  is  a  close,  philosophical  thinker,  and  awakens  an  ab- 
sorbing interest  in  his  audiences.  He  penetrates  to  the  truth  of 
human  motives,  however  hidden  ;  he  tenderly  unfolds  the  daily  life 
and  aspirations  of  man,  and  he  paints  in  glowing  language  the  bliss 
of  religion  and  virtue,  while  he  tempts  the  froward  heart  to  penitence 
and  peace.  His  voice  rings  out  in  tones  of  melody,  and  he  stands 
strikingly  impressive  in  his  stature  and  bearing,  No  one  can 
doubt  his  sincerity,  and  no  one  can  fail  to  feel  the  force  of  his  rea- 
soning, and  the  thrill  of  his  eloquence.  Preacher  and  people  are 
thus  made  one  in  sympathy  and  purpose,  and  they  go  forth  from 
these  ministrations  alike  anointed  with  heavenly  grace,  and  inspired 
with  a  stronger  corn-age  in  faith  and  duty. 

222 


KEY.  HARVEY  D.  GANSE, 

I'JLSTOR,  OF  THE  M:A.r)IS01V   A^VEIVXJE  REFORMiED 
CHURCH,    IVETV    YORIt. 


)EV.  HAEYEY  D.  GANSE  was  born  at  Fishkill,  Dutch- 
ess county,  New  York,  February  27th,  1822.  He  was 
graduated  at  Columbia  College,  New  York,  in  1839,  and 
in  theology  at  the  Seminary  at  New  Brunswick,  New 
Jersey,  in  1843.  During  the  same  year  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Reformed  Church  at  Freehold,  New  Jersey,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1856.  He  then  became  tlie  pastor  of  the  Northwest 
Protestant  Reformed  Dutch  Church  of  the  City  of  New  York,  now 
known  as  the  Madison  Avenue  Reformed  Church,  over  which  he  has 
presided  with  great  acceptability  for  a  period  of  seventeen  years. 

This  congregation  was  organized  by  order  of  the  Classis  of  New 
York,  by  the  installation  of  four  elders  and  four  deacons,  on  the  17th 
day  of  April,  1808  ;  a  previous  meeting  for  the  election  of  those 
ofl&cers  having  been  held  on  the  27th  day  of  Januaiy  in  the  same 
year.  Rev.  Dr.  Livingston,  of  the  Collegiate  Dutch  Church  of  New 
York,  presided  at  both  of  these  meetings.  The  church  began  with 
one  hundred  and  forty  members,  of  whom  more  than  two-thirds,  or 
nearly  a  hundred,  had  been  dismissed  for  tliat  purpose  from  the 
Collegiate  Church.  The  first  church  edifice  in  Sugar-loaf  (afterward 
Franklin)  street  was  dedicated  on  the  same  day  on  which  the  first 
Consistory  was  ordained ;  Dr.  Livingston  conducting  both  services. 
This  building  was  burned  in  1839,  and  was  at  once  re-built  on  the 
same  site.  In  1854  the  congregation  removed  to  a  new  church  which 
had  been  erected  on  West  Twenty-third  street,  between  the  Sixth 
and  Seventh  avenues,  a  location,  then  far  up-town.  Fifteen  years 
later  the  continued  up-town  movement  of  the  population  obliged 
another  removal  to  be  determined  upon.  In  1869  a  sale  was  made 
of  the  Twenty-third  street  property,  and  lots  were  purchased  on  the 
corner  of  Madison  avenue  and  Fifty-seventh  street.  The  corner-stone 
of  a  new  edifice  was  laid  on  the  23d  of  May,  1870,  in  the  presence 

223 


REV.     HARVEY     D.      GANSE. 

of  a  large  congregation.  Addresses  were  made  bj  a  number  of  tlie 
city  ministers  of  different  denominations.  The  churcli  is  an  impos. 
ing  building  of  Oliio  stone  in  Eomanesque  style.  There  is  a  main 
building,  which  will  seat  nearly  eleven  hundred  people,  and  a  lec- 
ture room  also  of  commodious  size.  The  spire  is  one  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  feet  high.  By  decree  of  Court,  the  name  from  the  1st 
of  January,  1871,  was  changed  to  Madison  Avenue  Eeformed  Church. 
The  pastors  of  the  church  have  been  Rev.  Christian  Bork,  from  1808 
to  1823  ;  Rev.  George  Duboise,  from  1824  to  1837  ;  Rev.  Christopher 
Hunt,  from  1837  to  1839;  Rev.  James  B.  Hardenberg,  from  1840 
to  1856 ;  Rev.  Harvey  D.  Ganse,  from  1856  to  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Ganse  is  about  of  the  medium  height,  with  an  equally  pro- 
portioned figure.  He  has  a  sandy  complexion^  and  wears  spectacles. 
His  head  is  fully  developed  in  the  intellectual  section  ;  both  his 
appearance  and  manners  impresses  you  with  the  fact  that  he  is  a 
diligent  student  and  thinker.  He  always  shows  a  great  deal  of  ab- 
sorption in  wdiatever  task  or  duty  may  engage  him,  but  is  never 
without  all  proper  courtesy  to  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. 
He  is,  in  tlie  largest  sense,  a  minister  of  Christ  and  the  pastor  of  his 
flock.  Nothing  turns  him  aside  from  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
which  rest  upon  him.  Throughout  his  career  he  has  been  a  model 
to  his  professional  brethren,  and  a  cherished  guide  of  the  religious 
community  at  large.  Failing  in  nothing,  but  rigidly  correct  in  all 
things,  by  whatever  test  has  been  applied  to  him,  he  has  exerted  an 
influence  wide  in  its  ramifications,  and  still  no  more  than  such  a  man 
should  enjoy.  The  strong  and  controlling  element  of  his  nature  is 
conscientio^isness.  He  applies  it  strictly  to  every  personal  act,  great  or 
small,  and  to  the  actions  of  all  other  persons.  Policy  and  com- 
promises in  life,  or  the  church,  are  never  thought  of  by  him ;  but  he 
follows  the  light  of  conscience  and  duty  wherever  it  may  lead  him. 
Consequently  he  is  a  strong  man  in  the  community,  and  a  still 
stronger  one  in  his  denomination. 

As  a  preacher  he  is  a  person  of  facts  rather  than  fancy.  He 
preaches  to  the  point,  with  entire  command  of  all  the  bearings  of  his 
subject,  and  interests  wholly  by  the  language  of  religious  instruction, 
which  is  imparted  in  a  manner  of  unmistakable  sincerity  and  serious- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  speaker.  These  pages  relate  the  career  of  no 
man  who  is  more  worthily  doing  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

224 


PiEY.  GEORGE  J.  GEER,  J).  D., 

ClrlXJRCIT,    ]VEW    YORK:. 


EV.  DR  GEOEGE  J.  GEER  was  born  at  Waterbiiiy, 
Connecticat,  February  24tb,  1821.  His  early  studies 
were  at  Cbesbire  Academy,  wbicb  was  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Rev.  A.  C,  Morgan,  a  well-known  instructor 
of  that  period.  He  was  graduated  at  Trinity  College,  Hart- 
*^  ford,  in  1842,  and  at  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Sem- 
inary, New  York  city,  in  1845.  He  was  made  deacon  in  the  latter 
year  at  Christ  Church,  Hartford,  by  Bishop  Brownell,  of  Connecticut, 
and  priest  in  1846  at  Christ  Church,  Balston  Spa,  b}'  Bishop  Delancey, 
of  western  New  York.  Soon  after  graduation  he  had  been  called  to 
Christ  Church,  at  Balston  Spa,  and  he  discharged  the  duties  of  a  very 
efficient  rectorship  in  this  parish  for  seven  years.  At  the  end  of  this 
time  lie  was  invited  to  the  more  extended  Held  of  an  assistant  to  the 
Rev,  Dr.  Robert  S.  Howland,  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Apostle,  in 
Ninth  avenue,  New  York.  He  officiated  in  this  parish  from  1853 
until  November,  1863,  a  term  of  thirteen  years.  During  the  latter 
portion  of  this  time  he  had  received  a  call  to  the  parish  of  St.  Timoth}', 
in  the  upper  section  of  the  city,  which  he  did  not  immediately  accept, 
though  he  undertook  to  attend  to  the  pulpit  supply.  At  length, 
however,  he  accepted  the  call,  and  entered  regularly  upon  the  parish 
work  in  which  he  has  since  been  engaged.  Dr.  Geer  received  his 
degree  of  D.  D.  from  both  Union  and  Columbia  Colleges  in  the  same 
year. 

St.  Timothy's  parish  was  founded  by  the  Rev.  ^Mr.  Tracy,  who 
desired  to  afford  church  accommodations  for  Episcopalians  in  the 
growing  population  of  the  up-town  wards.  The  firet  preaching  was 
in  a  small  building  in  Fifty-first  street;  and  in  1853  a  church  edifice 
was  erected  in  Fifty-fourth  street,  west  of  Eighth  avenue.  This 
building  was  occupied  by  the  congregation  for  seven  years,  until  1860, 

when  it  was  sold  to  the  Baptist  congregation  under  the  pastoral  care 

225 


REV.     GEORGE     J.      GEER,    D.  D. 

of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Williams.  An  eligible  site  on  Fifty-seventh  street 
was  then  purchased,  where  a  chapel  was  erected,  which  was  first 
occupied  on  Easter  Day,  1867.  This  chapel  has  seating  accommo- 
dations for  five  hundred  people.  A  large  portion  of  the  site  has  been 
reserved  for  the  erection  of  a  handsome  church  edifice  at  no  distant 
day.  A  wealthy  and  highly  respectable  class  of  population  are  fast 
filling  up  all  of  this  section,  which  is  immediately  adjacent  to  the 
Park,  and  the  congregations  here  planted  will  in  the  future  be  the 
most  numerous  and  important  of  the  city. 

Dr.  Geer  is  about  of  the  average  height,  with  a  round  figure.  He 
is  a  person  of  active  temperament  and  movements.  His  head  is  large 
and  round,  with  regular  features  of  much  amiability.  He  has,  in 
fact,  one  of  those  bright  open  faces  which  it  is  a  pleasvire  to  look  at. 
It  has  nothing  sinister,  nothing  ignoble,  and  nothing  unpleasant 
about  it  You  read  in  it  the  good  heart,  the  faithfulness  to  moral 
and  religious  principles,  and  the  culture  and  intelligence,  which  to- 
gether form  the  highest  standard  of  chai'acter.  His  manners  are  not 
less  agreeable  to  contemplate.  He  is  not  without  dignity — and  no 
clergyman  should  be — but  it  is  modified  by  so  much  real,  hearty  good 
feeling  and  geniality  that  you  are  at  once  placed  on  the  most  friendly 
and  intimate  footing  with  him.  No  person  ever  went  into  his  pre- 
sence, no  matter  of  what  station,  who  found  him  anything  but  cour- 
teous and  genial,  and  at  the  same  time  did  not  think  that  he  main- 
tained all  the  dignity  and  circumspection  which  were  proper  in  his 
calling. 

Clothed  with  marked  and  many  graces  of  character,  Dr.  Geer  is 
peculiarly  armed  for  his  work  in  the  field  of  the  Lord.  He  goes 
about  it  with  an  earnest  spirit  and  a  cheerful  heart.  He  makes  no 
failures,  for  he  is  persevering,  and  not  less  practical.  He  always 
works  harder  than  anybody  else.  Whatever  may  be  the  measure  of 
his  success,  be  it  small  or  great,  he  is  neither  discouraged  nor  elated. 
But  he  keeps  straight  on.  Cheerful  and  confident,  bold  and  deter- 
mined, he  sweeps  away  obstacle  after  obstacle,  and,  in  the  end,  often 
astonishes  those  who  are  looking  on,  at  his  signal  triumphs ;  but  never 
himself,  as  he  has  not  allowed  his  sanguine  nature  to  contemplate 
anything  short  of  success.  He  is  sanguine,  but  only  so  because  he 
has  faith  in  works  and  prayer.  Without  these  he  expects  nothing. 
As  neither  are  never  wanting,  he  has  always  a  great  hopefulness. 

He  has  been  emphatically  a  worker  in  all  the  parishes  he  has  been 

connected  with.     He  does  not  believe  in  an  ornamental  inefficient 

226 


EEV.      GEORGE     J.     GEER,     D.  D. 

ministry,  but  in  one  that  earns  success  by  work,  struggles,  and  hero- 
ism. If  the  sheep  do  not  come  to  his  flock,  he  goes  after  them. 
Self-sacrifice,  toil,  in  season  and  out  of  it,  vigilance,  and  faith,  are  the 
great  sources  upon  which  he  relies.  He  does  not  stand  aloof  from 
his  fellow-men,  nor  is  he  satisfied  to  do  certain  ofl&cial  things  in  an 
official  way,  but  he  is  every  man's  friend  and  servant  and  comforter. 
His  large  heart,  and  his  invincible  spirit  gave  sincerity  and  force  to 
all  his  undertakings,  and  he  stands  foremost  among  his  cotemporaries 
for  the  earnestness  and  success  of  his  whole  ministerial  career. 

As  a  preacher.  Dr.  Geer  is  sound,  logical,  and  persuasive.  He 
has  a  good  voice,  and  his  manners  are  unexceptionable.  He  preaches 
as  if  he  felt  its  responsibility,  and  his  tender,  while  serious,  woi'ds  go 
far  to  arouse  the  same  feeling  in  his  hearers  in  regard  to  their  own 
condition.  The  effect  of  this  preaching  is  to  awaken  reflection.  He 
does  not  send  the  audience  home  talking  of  extraordinary  burets  of 
eloquence,  but  they  go  away  edified  and  comforted  in  holy  truths. 

227 


REV.  F.  W.  GEISSENHAMER,  D.  D., 

l?A.©TOIt    OF    ST.    I»Jk.XJlL,'S    T^XJTHER^IV    CHURCH, 
]?ifEW     YORK:. 


m 


'EV.  dr.  FREDERICK  WILLIAM  GEISSENHAINER 

was  born  at  New  Hanover,  Montgomery  county,  Pennsjd- 
vaiiin,  June  28th,  1797.  His  fother  was  Rev.  Dr.  Fred- 
t,j^:^^-  erick  William  Geissenliainer,  a  native  of  Prussia,  an 
earlj^  Lutheran  minister  in  this  country,  and  a  man  of  great 
«^  learning.  This  gentleman  was  distinguished  for  intelligence, 
and  was  particulary  noted  for  thorough  scholarship  in  Hebrew,  Latin, 
and  Greek  He  was  also  a  profound  mathematician,  mineralogist, 
and  botanist,  and  of  extensive  scientific  acquirements.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  to  discover  the  value  of  anthracite  coal  for 
melting  iron.  For  a  number  of  j- ears  he  officiated  as  pastor  of  Christ 
Lutheran  Church  in  Frankfort  street,  New  York.  This  church  is 
well  remembered  as  being  the  only  church  in  New  York,  beside  the 
Episcopalian,  which  escaped  desecration  at  the  hands  of  the  English, 
it  being  attended  by  the  Hessian  soldiery,  who  were  Lutherans.  The 
senior  Dr.  Geissenhainer  died  in  1838. 

The  subject  of  our  present  notice  came  to  New  York  with  his 
father  at  an  early  age,  and  received  his  education,  both  academic  and 
theological,  from  his  father  and  other  instructors  who  were  employed. 
He  was  licensed  as  a  minister  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  1818  at  the 
early  age  of  twenty  years.  He  was  first  settled  over  a  congregation 
at  Vincent,  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained  ten 
years.  He  was  then  called  to  St.  Matthew's  Church,  in  Walker 
street,  New  York,  where  the  services  were  conducted  in  English. 
He  continued  in  this  position  about  fourteen  years.  The  congrega- 
tion of  Christ  Church  at  length  became  the  possessors  of  the  pro- 
perty of  St  Mattliew's,  and  took  that  name. 

Dr.  Geissenhainer  now  determined  to  found  a  new  organization, 
and  established  his  present  church,  known  as  St.  Paul's.  The  first 
preaching  was  in  a  hall  in  Eighth  avenue.     A  church  was  erected  in 

228 


REV.     F,     W.     G  E  I  S  S  E  X  H  A  I N  E  R ,     D.  D. 

1842  on  the  corner  of  Sixth  avenue  and  Fifteenth  street,  mainly 
through  the  liberaUty  of  Dr.  Geissenhaiuer  himself  It  is  a  fine  stone 
structure,  and  the  whole  property  is  now  valued  at  some  eighty  thou- 
sand dollare.  Dr.  Geissenhaiuer  conmienced  his  organization  with 
eleven  poor  families :  but  the  congregation  has  now  one  thousand 
three  hundred  communicants,  and  the  Sunday  school  has  between  six 
and  seven  hundred  scholars.  The  principal  service  is  in  the  German 
language,  but  one  is  in  English,  for  the  benefit  of  the  young  people, 
who,  as  a  general  thing,  speak  that  language.  Through  Dr.  Geis- 
senhainer's  efforts  and  pecuniary  means  a  large  Latheran  Cemetery 
has  been  established. 

The  Lutheran  Church  was  established  in  the  American  colonies  at 
au  early  period.  There  was  a  church  in  New  York  in  1659,  which 
was  called  Trinity,  and  stood  in  Broadway,  near  Wall  street,  but  was 
destroyed  in  the  great  fire  after  the  city  fell  into  the  possession  of  the 
English,  and  another  in  Georgia  in  1748.  There  was  no  general  or- 
ganization of  the  church,  however,  until  the  arrival  of  Eev.  Dr.  Henry 
Melchoir  Muhlenberg  at  Philadelphia,  about  1742,  who  was  a  distin- 
guished European  scholar,  and  gathered  the  first  synod  or  confer  nee 
of  the  ministers  in  that  city.  In  1796  there  were  from  three  to  four 
hundred  clergymen,  and  fi-om  four  to  five  hundred  congregations. 
There  are  now  2,309  pastors,  4,115  congregations,  and  435,000  com- 
municants. During  1873  there  was  an  increase  of  134  pastors,  289  con- 
gregations, and  27,000  communicants.  It  is  estimated  that  in  the  city 
of  New  York  alone  there  are  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  Lutherans, 
who  support  thirteen  churches.  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  have  the 
largest  population  of  Lutheran  believers.  Missions  are  maintained 
by  the  American  Church  in  Asia,  Africa,  Canada,  and  Texas.  About 
three  years  since  a  theological  seminary  was  established  in  Philadel- 
phia, for  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministrv,  which  has 
a  learned  faculty  of  seven  professors  and  about  thirty  students.  At 
an  earlier  period  of  the  church  the  want  of  such  an  institution  was 
supplied  by  the  appointment  of  four  ministers,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
instruct  young  men  for  the  ministry.  Rev.  Dr.  Geissenhaiuer,  Sr., 
was  one  of  these  instructors. 

Dr.  Geissenhaiuer  is  about  the  medium  height,  sparely  made,  and, 
for  a  man  of  his  years,  has  a  great  amount  of  activity.  His  head  is 
more  long  then  round,  and  his  face  is  very  decidedly  of  the  German 
type.  His  features  are  small  and  regularly  molded,  and  his  eyes 
are  lit  with  a  keen  and  often  times  merry  twinkle.     There  is  great 

229 


REV.     F.     W.      GEISSENHAINER,     T).  B. 

flexibility  in  his  features,  and  all  bis  emotions  are  vividly  shown  in 
his  countenance.  He  is  a  person  of  much  vivacity  and  cheerfulness 
of  manners,  and  his  conversational  powers  are  such  that  he  is  a  most 
attractive  social  companion.  His  manners  are  not  only  courteous, 
but  so  genial  and  unassuming  that  you  find  yourself,  though  a  stran- 
ger, on  the  very  best  terms  with  him  in  the  shortest  possible  time. 
He  talks  upon  any  and  all  subjects  with  knowledge,  animation,  and 
intei'Gst,  and  shows  himself  at  once  the  profound  scholar,  the  shrewd 
observer  of  the  world's  affairs,  and  the  genial  gentleman. 

Dr.  Geissenhainer  preaches  an  original  and  very  practical  sermon. 
He  is  a  logical,  pointed  writer,  as  are  all  the  thinkers  of  the  German 
cast  of  mind ;  and  while  he  comes  very  directly  to  the  idea  he  wishes 
to  convey,  his  argument  in  maintaining  every  proposition  is  absolute 
and  overwhelming.  He  deals  mostly  in  those  themes  which  invite 
a  learned  expounding  of  the  scriptures,  and  a  full  exposition  of  the 
moral  obligations  which  are  incumbent  upon  mankind.  His  peo- 
ple go  to  him  for  religious  instruction,  and  they  get  it.  It  is  given 
with  the  authority  of  a  man  holding  a  sacred  commission  to  proclaim 
the  truth,  and  likewise  with  the  tender  concern  of  a  father,  solicitous 
for  their  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare. 

He  has  a  clear,  distinct  voice,  and  is  emphatic  in  his  manner  of 
delivery.  He  is  equally  acceptable  as  a  speaker  in  the  German  or 
English  languages,  having  them  both  fully  at  his  command.  There 
is  an  ever-present  dignity  and  seriousness  about  him  in  the  pulpit, 
and  everything  that  he  does  is  in  evident  recognition  of  the  sacredness 
of  the  place  and  occasion,  and  of  the  responsibility  resting  upon  him- 
self as  a  religious  teacher. 

Dr.  Geissenhainer  has  done  a  great  work  among  the  people  of  his 
ancestral  I'ace.  While  he  has  not  wished  to  unlearn  them  in  the 
language  and  habits  of  the  Fatherland,  he  has  been  able,  from  his 
knowlei.ige  of  the  American  people  and  society,  to  make  the  strangers 
at  home  in  the  new  land,  and  at  the  altar  of  their  religion.  At  St 
Paul's  church  the  German  la.nguage  is  spoken  in  all  its  purity,  and 
the  foi-ms  and  semces  are  those  of  the  European  Lutheran  church  ; 
and  still  it  is  a  congregation  with  its  members  loyal  to  the  American 
government,  and  with  all  their  interests  identified  with  that  of  the 
country  of  their  adoption.  Their  pastor,  in  his  extensive  scholarship 
and  high  moral  character,  is  a  fitting  type  of  the  great  and  good  in 
the  land  beyond  the  sea,  at  the  same  time  that  he  stands  prominent 
as  an  American  citizen,  and  one  of  the  foremost  theological  expound- 
ers of  the  American  Church. 

230 


REY.  CIIAUXCEY  GILES, 


PASTOR     OF    THE     IVEW    JEPtXJ^A.I^E:>£    HOUSE 
OE     AVOKSHir*,    ]VEAV    "STOKKL. 


BV.    CHAUNCEY   GILES    was  bora    at    Charlemont, 

Franklin  county,  Massachusetts,  May  11th,   1813.     His 

early  studies  were  at  a  seminary  under  the  charge  of  Rev. 

v%^         James  Ballard,   at  Bennington,  Vermont.      He  entered 


^IP  Williams  College,  but  was  obliged  to  withdraw  by  reason  of  ill. 


'^i 


health.  He  taught  school  for  several  years  at  Fishkill,  Eoch- 
ester,  and  Palmyra,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  In  18-iO  he  re- 
moved to  Ohio,  and  continued  teaching  at  Hamilton,  Lebanon,  and 
Pomeroy  until  1853.  He  bad  been  converted  to  the  Swedenborgian  or 
New  Jerusalem  faith  while  settled  at  Lebanon  in  1846  ;  and  while  at 
Pomeroy  in  May,  1853,  he  was  licensed  and  ordained  to  preach.  There 
are  three  degrees  in  the  Swedenborgian  ministry,  in  the  first  of  which 
the  minister  is  allowed  to  preach  and  baptize ;  in  the  second,  to  ad- 
minister the  Lord's  Supper  and  solemnize  marriage ;  and  in  the  third, 
authority  to  ordain  is  given.  Mr.  Giles  passed  regularly  through 
these  degrees.  In  1854  he  was  called  to  the  First  New  Jerusalem 
Society  in  Cincinnati,  where  he  remained  until  May,  1861.  At  the 
latter  date  he  accepted  the  pastorship  of  the  First  Society  in  New 
York,  over  which  he  has  now  been  settled  nine  years. 

The  First  Society  has  a  large  and  tasteful  edifice  on  Thirty-fifth 
street,  between  Park  and  Lexington  avenues,  and  is  the  only  organi- 
zation of  the  kind  in  New  York.  There  are  one  hundred  and  fifty 
members,  and  the  attendance  is  about  four  hundred.  The  Sunday 
School  has  over  one  hundred  scholars.  The  congregation  own  three 
lots,  and  the  original  improvements  cost  about  sixteen  thousand  dol- 
lars, all  of  which  was  paid.  The  church  has  been  enlarged  at  an  ex- 
pense of  seventeen  thousand  dollars. 

The  New  Jerusalem  Church  is  founded  on  the  doctrines  first 
broached  by  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  a  Swedish  philosopher  and  re- 
ligious writer,  who  was  born  in  Stockholm,  January  29th,  1688,  and 

231 


REV.      CHAUNCEY     GILES. 

died  in  London,  March  29th,  1772.  His  first  religious  work,  pub- 
lished in  1749,  under  the  title  of  "  Arcana  Celestia  ;"  or,  "  Heavenly 
Arcana  which  are  contained  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  or  Word  of  the 
Lord,  laid  open,  beginning  with  Grenesis,  together  with  Relations  of 
Wonderful  Things  seen  in  the  World  of  Spirits  and  the  Heaven  of 
Angels." 

He  says,  in  regard  to  this  work  :  "  It  is  not  unknown  to  rae  that 
many  will  say  that  a  man  can  never  speak  with  the  spirits  and  angels 
while  he  lives  in  the  body ;  and  many  that  it  is  fantasy ;  others  that 
I  relate  such  things  to  gain  credit ;  and  others  other  things ;  but  I  do 
not  hesitate  on  this  account,  for  I  have  seen,  have  heard,  have 
touched."  He  published  his  last  work  at  Amsterdam,  in  1771, 
under  the  title  of  "  The  True  Christian  Religion,  containing  the  Uni- 
versal Theology  of  the  New  Church  foretold  by  the  Loi'd  in  Daniel, 
chap,  xii,  13,  14,  and  in  the  Apocalypse,  chap,  xxi,  1,  2."  When 
on  his  death-bed,  he  was  asked  "  to  declare  whether  all  he  had  written 
was  strictly  true,  or  whether  any  part  or  parts  thereof  were  to  be  ex- 
cepted." He  replied  with  warmth  :  "  I  have  written  nothing  but  the 
truth,  as  you  will  have  it  more  confirmed  hereafter  all  the  days  of 
your  life,  provided  you  always  keep  close  to  the  Lord,  and  faithfully 
serve  him  alone,  in  shunning  evils  of  all  kind  as  sins  against  him, 
and  diligently  search  his  Word,  which,  from  beginning  to  end,  bears 
incontestible  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  I  have  delivered 
to  the  World." 

"  There  are  a  number  of  well  authenticated  cases  in  which  Swe- 
denborg  communicated  facts,"  says  another,  "his  knowledge  of  which 
is  deemed  by  the  receivers  of  his  doctrines  wholly  inexplicable  with- 
out supposing  him  to  have  had  communication  with  the  spiritual 
world.  He  never  sought,  however,  to  make  any  demonstration  of 
this  knowledge,  nor  does  he  anywhere  in  his  published  works  appeal 
to  them  as  evidences  of  his  mission  or  the  truth  of  his  doctrines. 
They  seem  to  have  been  mere  incidents  of  his  life." 

The  following  account  is  given  of  the  comparative  increase  and 
forms  of  the  New  Church : 

"A  century  has  elapsed  since  the  commencement  of  the  New  Church,  and  the 
number  of  those  who  openly  profess  to  be  receivers  of  its  doctrines  and  members 
of  the  church  is  still  comparatively  small.  It  is  greatest  in  the  United  States  and 
England.  These  doctrines  find,  however,  zealous  advocates  in  Prance,  Grermany, 
Sweden,  Switzerland,  and  indeed,  in  almost  every  portion  of  the  Christian  world. 
In  England  there  is  a  General  Conference  of  the  New  Church,  which  holds  an 
annual  session  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom.      In  the  United  States  there  is 

232 


REV.      CHAUNCEY     GILES. 

also  ft  General  Convention  of  the  New  Church,  -which  meets  annually  in  different 
places.  There  are  church  societies  in  both  countries  not  in  connection  with  these 
organizations.  The  General  Conference  has  published  a  liturgy  which  is  very  gen- 
erally used  In  England.  A  liturgy  has  also  been  published,  and  from  time  to  time 
revised,  by  the  General  Convention  of  the  New  Church  of  the  United  States. 
Several  periodicals,  both  in  England  and  America,  are  devoted  to  tha  elucidation 
and  dissemination  of  its  doctrines,  and  various  able  writers  have  published  works 
for  the  same  purpose.  In  the  public  worship  of  the  New  Church,  in  this  country, 
generally  speaking,  no  prayer  but  the  Lord's  prayer  is  used.  The  music  consists 
mostly,  and  in  many  places  entirely,  of  chants  and  anthems,  the  words  of  which 
are  taken  from  the  sacred  Scriptures.  The  liturgy  of  the  General  Convention,  be- 
sides the  liturgized  portion  of  the  Book,  contains  two  hundred  and  forty  pages  of 
scriptural  selections,  M-ith  suitable  chants  and  anthems.  The  words  of  Scripture 
are  regarded  hy  the  New  Church  as  possessing  an  influence  and  a  power  in  worship, 
whether  in  praj^er  or  singing,  altogether  above  those  of  any  merely  human  composi- 
tion." 

The  New  Church  was  first  established  in  the  United  States  about 
1820,  in  Baltimore.  It  is  strongest  in  Massachusetts.  The  Neio 
Jerusalem  Messenger,  the  organ  of  the  denomination,  is  published  in 
Boston,  There  is  one  society  in  New  York,  another  in  Brooklj-n, 
and  another  in  Hoboken. 

Mr.  Giles  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  powerful  writers  of  his 
denomination.  He  is  the  author  of  several  books  respectively  en- 
titled "  The  Incarnation,  Death,  and  Mediation  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;"  "The  Nature  of  Spirit,  and  of  Man  as  a  Spiritual  Being;" 
"Heavenly  Blessedness,  Meet  it  is,  and  How  Attained;  a  Series  of 
Discourses  on  the  Beatitudes;"  "Vital  Questions  Answered,"  and  of 
many  published  sermons. 

In  his  personal  appearance  Mr.  Giles  is  plain  and  unassuming, 
with  much  of  the  clerical  dignity.  He  is  under  the  medium  height, 
well-proportioned,  and  active.  He  is  evidently  one  of  those  men 
who  can  endure  a  great  deal  of  patient  labor  without  feeling  it  any 
tax  upon  a  strong  and  vigorous  body  and  mind,  and  also  one  of 
those  who  prefer  to  make  no  parade  of  anything  that  is  accom- 
plished. His  head  is  round,  with  a  prominent  brow,  and  otherwise 
intelligent  and  amiable  features.  His  manners  are  courteous  and 
friendly  ;  but  there  is  always  a  reserve  and  modesty  about  him,  un- 
less he  is  specially  brought  forward.  He  has  a  mild  and  cheerful 
disposition,  and  a  frankness  and  amiability  which  are  particularly 
engaging  with  young  people,  over  whom  he  has  always  exerted  a 
most  happy  influence  both  as  teacher  and  minister. 

Mr.  Giles  is  an  interesting  and  impressive  preacher,  without  the 

slightest  effort  on  his  part  at  anything  like  display.     Indeed,  his  Ian- 

233 


"REV.     CHAUNCEY     GILES. 

guage  and  manner  are  simple  and  undemonstrative  in  the  extreme, 
but  characterized  by  a  great  deal  of  religious  solemnity.  His  ser- 
mons are  replete  with  argument — sometimes,  too,  of  a  deeply  meta- 
physical character ;  but  the  great  feature  is  a  tender  and  affecting 
elucidation  in  regard  to  those  impulses  in  the  human  mind  and 
heart  which  are  to  be  trained  into  the  fully  developed  religious  na- 
ture. The  carnal  and  the  spiritual  conditions,  the  sins  which  debase, 
and  the  perfect  love  which  elevates,  the  soul's  yearnings  for  the 
higher  state  of  heavenly  beatitude,  the  road  by  faith  and  works  to 
attain  it — all  these,  and  others,  are  the  constant  themes  which  absorb 
the  mind  of  the  Swedenborgian  minister.  Mr.  Giles,  like  all  his 
brethren  in  that  ministry,  discusses  them  in  a  manner  which  is  most 
likely  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  reflective  hearer.  They  do  not 
desire  to  effect  conversion  by  the  powers  of  oratory  or  rhetoric,  but 
by  establishing  the  doctrines  as  accepted  and  understood  truth  in  the 
mind  and  conscience.  They  appeal  to  intelligence,  to  conviction  of 
moral  and  religious  duty,  and  to  the  impulses  of  human  nature,  sof- 
tened and  bettered  by  the  baptism  of  love  and  religion.  In  making 
all  this  plain  there  is  abundant  room  for  the  use  of  learning,  but  more 
especially  for  the  exercise  of  keen  powers  of  theological  and  philoso- 
phical reasoning.  The  Swedenborgian  ministers  and  authors  excel 
in  these  particulars,  and  the  people  at  large  are  noted  as  a  most  in- 
telligent class  of  believers. 

Mr.  Giles  is  gi'catly  esteemed,  not  only  for  his  intellectual  talents, 
but  for  a  consistent,  upright  private  life.  He  became  a  convert  to 
his  particular  faith  by  a  long  and  earnest  course  of  investigation,  and 
since  its  public  adoption  he  has  always  sought  to  exemplify  his  doc- 
trines, as  far  as  possible,  by  his  daily  practices.  He  has  a  stern  re- 
solution in  maintaining  his  principles,  and  a  deep  conscientiousness 
in  regard  to  all  his  actions.  While  he  is  without  a  vain  and  selfish 
ambition,  still  he  is  desirous  to  achieve  a  distinction  which  may  be 
useful  to  his  denomination  and  the  cause  of  morals  and  religion  gen- 
erally. To  this  end  he  has  already  devoted  his  fine  intellectual 
abilities  as  a  writer  and  preacher,  with  a  success  which  is  affirmed  by 
the  popularity  of  his  literary  works  as  denominational  books,  and  his 
high  position  as  a  pulpit  expounder. 

234 


REY.  A.  D.  GILLETTE,  D.  D., 

OF    THE    j^MIERIOA.lN'    7^]Vr>     EOREIOIV    BIOLE 
©OCII^TY,     TVEW     YORK:. 


^1 


EY.  DK.  A.  D.  GILLETTE  was  born  at  Cambridge, 
Wasbington  county,  New  York,  Sept.  8tb,  1807.  He  is 
one  of  four  brotbers  wbo  entered  tbe  ministry,  only  one 
of  wbom  beside  himself  is  now  living.  His  education 
was  obtained  at  tbe  District  School  and  the  Greenville  Academy, 
2^  Washington  county.  He  pursued  a  theological  course  at  Madi- 
son University,  and  also  privately,  likewise  enjoying  the  privileges 
of  a  university  student  at  Union  College.  In  September,  1831,  he 
was  ordained  at  Schenectady,  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
church  in  tliat  city,  where  he  remained  nearly  four  years.  He  be- 
came pastor  of  Sansom  street  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia,  in  May, 
1835,  in  which  position  he  continued  until  1839,  when  he  went  to 
the  Eleventh  street  church,  a  congregation  formed  out  of  the  Sansom 
street  organization.  In  1852  he  was  called  to  New  York,  to  take 
charge  of  Calvary  Baptist  Church,  now  in  West  Twenty-third  street, 
but  formerly  known  as  the  Broadway  Baptist  Church.  He  received 
the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Union  College,  and  that  of  D.  D.  from 
Madison  University.  Many  invitations  have  been  addressed  to  him 
to  take  other  positions  in  the  pastorate,  and  from  various  institutions. 
He  was  twice,  in  an  interval  of  four  years,  elected  chaplain  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  at  Charlottesville.  He  wrote,  in  conjunction 
with  his  elder  brother,  Eev.  W.  B.  Gillette,  a  memoir  of  Rev.  D.  H. 
Gillette,  and  is  also  the  author  of  a  life  of  Dr.  A.  Judson,  of  Burmah, 
several  pamphlets,  published  sermons,  and  some  fugitive  poetry  and 
prose  in  newspapers  and  magazines.  He  introduced  the  missionary, 
Judson,  to  the  lady  who  subsequently  became  his  wife,  and  he  en- 
joj-ed  relations  with  them,  and  the  cause  in  which  both  were  distin- 
guished, of  the  most  intimate  nature. 

In  January,  1861,  he  left  Calvary  Church  to  become  the  pastor 
of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  remained 

235 


REV.     A.     D.      GILLETTE,     D.  D. 

fire  years.  Having  lost  his  health  lie  went  to  Europe,  and  passed  a 
year  in  agreeable  relaxation.  After  his  return  he  took  the  pastoral 
care  of  the  Gethsemane  Baptist  Churcli,  Brooklyn,  for  a  year  and 
eight  months.  He  then  became  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  which  position  he  still  holds. 

Dr.  Gillette  is  slightly  above  the  average  height,  and  broad  in 
proportion.  His  complexion  and  hair  are  light.  His  manners  are 
easy  and  cordial,  and  his  conversation  is  fluent.  He  evidently  makes 
no  claim  to  unusual  dignity,  but  desires  to  appear  an  unassuming 
gentleman.  He  is  of  a  cheerful,  hopeful  disposition,  and  friendships 
made  with  him  are  generally  lasting. 

He  preaches  with  considerable  power  and  eloquence.  His  text  is 
well-elucidated,  and  he  always  embellishes  his  sermons  with  efforts 
of  his  fancy.  His  impulses  are  quick,  and  he  is  disposed  to  take  the 
brighter  view  of  life's  pictures.  This  is  soon  apparent  in  all  inter- 
course with  him,  and  is  particularly  observable  in  his  writings.  He 
is  a  great  comforter  for  the  sorrowing  heart.  With  a  nicer  skill  than 
any  surgeon  in  the  case  of  a  physical  wound,  he  seeks  to  extract  the 
fangs  of  grief  He  is  not  satisfied  with  cold,  formal,  professional 
words,  but  his  own  bosom  is  filled  with  concern  until  the  darkness 
of  sorrow  in  the  heart  of  his  friend  yields  to  the  softly  falling  rays  of 
generous,  kindly  consolation.  There  is  no  sky  in  which  he  cannot 
find  a  star ;  no  fate  in  which  he  cannot  discern  a  good  Providence ; 
no  destiny  which  he  cannot  make  beautiful  with  hope.  In  these  and 
the  other  social  duties  of  a  pastor  he  is  greatly  and  justly  a])pre- 
ciated. 

Dr.  Gillette  is  very  popular  with  his  brethren  of  the  ministry  of  all 
denominations.  In  every  good  work  he  is  found  among  the  fore- 
most, assisting  with  discreet  counsels  and  laboring  with  a  heroic 
spirit.  His  genial  nature,  his  cheering  confidence,  and  his  eminent 
piety,  everywhere,  and  at  all  times,  commend  him  as  a  congenial  and 
successful  co-laborer.  "Widely  known,  universally  beloved,  an  ac- 
complished student,  a  popular  preacher,  the  name  and  qualifications 
of  Dr.  Gillette  find  no  mean  place  in  the  annals  of  the  metropolitan 
clergy. 

236 


REY.  EZRA  H.  GILLETT,  D.  D., 

LA-TE    PASTOR,     OF     THE    HAREEM:    PRESBYTE- 
HIAJS     CHURCH,     1VI2TV    YORlt. 


'EY.  DR.  EZRA  H.  GILLETT  was  born  at  Colchester, 
Connecticut,  July  15th,  1823.  He  prepared  for  college  at 
Bacon  Academy  in  that  town,  under  Myron  N.  Morris, 
and,  entering  Yale  College,  was  gi'aduated  at  that  institu- 
in  1841.  After  graduation  he  studied  a  full  term  at  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  where  he  had  charge 
of  the  libraiy  in  1844.  and  was  graduated  the  same  year.  He  was 
licensed  by  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  in  December, 
1844,  commenced  preaching  as  a  supply  in  the  pulpit  of  the  Harlem 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  spring  of  1845  he  was  invited  to  be- 
come the  pastor,  and,  having  accepted  the  call,  was  ordained  and 
inst'illed  on  the  16th  of  April  following.  In  1846,  the  synod  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  divided  the  Third  Presbytery,  forming 
the  Fourth,  and  attached  this  church  to  it.  Dr.  Gillett  remained 
pastor  until  April,  1870,  a  period  of  twenty  five  years.  At  first  the 
church  was  very  feeble,  having  only  fourteen  members,  but  it  finally 
became  a  prosperous  body.  A  new  church  edifice  was  dedicated 
August  22d,  1844,  which  was  sold  many  years  after,  and  the  present 
fine  property  on  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  street  purchased. 
In  1872  a  Lecture  Room  was  erected  on  a  portion  of  this  site,  and  a 
large  main  edifice  is  to  be  built 

Dr.  Gillett  is  now  Professor  of  Political  Science  in  the  University 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1869.  He 
preaches  frequently  in  New  York  and  vicinity.  Dr.  Gillett  received 
his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Hamilton  College,  New  York,  in  1864. 
He  is  the  author  of  the  following  works,  viz :  "  A  translation  of 
Luther's  Commentary  on  the  Epistles  of  Peter  and  Jude,"  one 
volume  ;  "Life  and  Times  of  John  Huss,'"  two  volumes  ;  "  History 
of  the  Presbyterian   Church  in  the  United  States,"  two  volumes ; 

"Life  Lessons,"  one  volume  ;  "  England  Two  Hundred  Years  Ago  ;" 

237 


SEV.     EZEA     H.      GILLETT,     D.  D. 

"  Ancient  Cities  and  Empii-es  :  their  Proj)lietic  Doom  i-ead  in  the 
Light  of  History  and  Moslem  Kesearch,"  one  volume,  and  "What 
Then?  or  the  Soul's  To-morrow,"  a  tract.  Most  of  these  volumes 
have  been  published  by  the  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee. 
Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Gillett  is  of  tbe  medium  beigbt,  sparely  made,  erect,  and  ac- 
tive. His  head  is  round,  with  an  agreeable  face,  having  small, 
regular  features.  His  brow  shows  a  great  deal  of  intellectual  de- 
velopment, and  his  sharp,  clear  eyes,  beam  with  peculiar  intelligence. 
His  manners  are  simple  and  courteous,  and  evince  an  humble  and 
obliging  disposition.  Indeed,  there  is  son]ething  particularly  notice- 
able in  the  perfect  humility  of  Dr.  Gillett's  character.  He  has  made 
himself  somewhat  famous  as  a  preacher  and  author,  and  still  he  does 
not  seem  to  be  aware  of  it,  or  does  not  care  about  it  He  arrogates 
nothing  to  himself  in  the  way  of  pride  and  dignity,  and  while  he 
toils  in  the  same  direction  with  unabated  zeal,  it  is  evidently  for  the 
purpose  of  doing  good  rather  than  to  satisfy  any  ambition  of  his  own. 
As  an  instance  of  his  personal  feelings,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  he 
never  uses  his  honorary  title  in  any  of  his  works  which  remain  under 
his  control.  On  more  than  one  occasion  he  refused  offers  of  posi- 
tions which  were  pecuniarily  much  more  to  his  advantage  than  the 
pastorship  he  held.  He  is  a  great  student  and  teacher,  and  he  has 
devoted  no  inconsiderable  part  of  his  income  to  the  collection  of  a 
rare  and  extensive  library,  which  is  the  source  of  all  the  pride  he 
allows  himself  to  feeL  In  his  library  and  out  of  it,  at  home,  books 
are  his  companions.  His  mind  is  a  perfect  encyclopaedia  of  well 
digested  lore,  covering  the  whole  limit  of  learned  and  polite  literature. 
His  memory  is  little  less  than  wonderful,  and  whatever  he  rea  Is  is 
accurately  retained  for  after  use.  In  his  writings  he  is  fond  of  illus- 
trations from  other  minds,  and  he  is  prolific  of  those  references  which 
take  the  widest  range.  He  seldom  uses  notes  in  the  pulpit,  and  it  is 
said  that  in  two  hours  after  preparing  his  longest  discourse  he  has 
every  line  of  it  committed  to  memory.  Many  of  his  sermons  are  en- 
tirely extemporaneous. 

Dr.  Gillett  is  one  of  the  ablest  preachers  in  the  New  York  pulpit. 
His  sermons  are  powerful  in  argument  and  in  diction,  if  written,  and 
are  scarcely  less  profound,  while  more  fervent  and  touching  in  lan- 
guage, when  extemporaneous.  He  is  fluent,  and  his  active,  eager 
mind  turns  from  point  to  point  and  topic  to  topic  with  the  facility 

given  by  inexhaustible  resources  of  scholarship  and  observation. 

238 


GUSTAY   GOTTHEIL,    PH.  D., 

OF    THE    TE]Mr»IL,E    ElVI^lVXJEE,    T»fETV  YORJi. 


lEY.  DR  GUSTAV  GOTTHEIL  was  born  at  Pinna 
May  28th,  1827.  His  elementary  and  Hebrew  education 
was  in  the  local  schools,  and  his  classical  and  rabbinical 
studies  were  at  Posen.  Later,  he  pursued  an  academical 
course  at  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  a  theological 
course  under  the  direction  of  Funz,  Lebrecht,  Steinschneider, 
and  Holdheim.  In  1855  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  ministers 
to  a  reform  congregation  at  Berlin,  and  in  1860  was  elected  rabbi  of 
the  Congregation  of  British  Jews  in  Manchester,  England.  He  gave 
evidence  of  high  scholarship  and  much  force  of  character  in  both  of 
these  positions,  and  drew  upon  himself  the  attention  of  the  religious 
and  intelligent  classes.  In  1873  he  was  elected  one  of  the  rabbis  of 
the  Temple  Emanuel,  New  York,  and  entered  upon  his  duties  in 
the  autumn  of  that  year.  Some  months  before  he  had  visited  New 
York,  and  been  received  by  the  congregation,  when  he  returned  to 
Manchester,  and  made  his  preparations  for  a  permanent  residence  in 
New  York.  The  eminent  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Adler  for  many  years 
has  been  the  rabbi  and  German  preacher  of  the  congregation,  and  Dr. 
Gottheil  was  called  as  his  associate,  and  as  a  preacher  in  the  English 
language.  He  receives  a  salary  of  six  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and, 
as  is  the  custom  with  the  Israelites,  the  contract  is  for  a  term  of  years. 
The  services  of  the  Jewish  ritual  are  highly  interesting,  and  the 
reform  temples  of  New  York,  especially,  are  visited  by  many  Chris- 
tians. The  language  ot  the  prayers  and  chants  in  the  Hebrew,  and 
Gennan  and  English  translations,  is  exceedingly  solemn  and  beauti- 
ful. An  impressive  part  is  the  opening  of  the  Ark  and  taking  out  of 
the  Pentateuch,  or  scrolls  of  the  law,  which  the  poet  Croswell  thus 
delicately  describes : 

"The  two-leaved  doors  slide  slow  apart 
Before  the  eastern  screen, 
As  rise  the  Hebrew  harmonies, 
With  chanted  prayers  between  ; 
239 


BEV.    GUSTAV    GOTTHEIL,    PH    D. 

And  mid  the  tissued  rails  disclosed, 

Of  many  a  gorgeous  dye, 
Enveloped  in  their  jeweled  scarfs, 

The  sacred  records  lie." 

Aside  from  the  interest  of  the  services,  there  are  reflections  which 
naturally  arise  in  the  sanctuary  of  this  extraordinary  people.  These 
are  the  children  of  Israel,  the  early  people  of  God,  and  through  ages 
a  scattered  and  persecuted  race.  Contemplate  them  in  awful  cove- 
nant with  the  Creator  of  mankind  ;  trace  them  in  the  splendid  eras' of 
their  greatness ;  remember  them  when  "  the  vail  of  the  temple  was 
rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  ;  and  the  earth  did  quake," 
in  the  dying  hour  of  the  rejected  king ;  behold  them  exiles  from  their 
country,  and  pilgrims  throughout  the  earth.  Grandest  of  the  nations 
of  antiquity,  most  scorned  of  all  peoples  of  modern  time,  they  have 
a  distinctiveness  from  all  other  i-aces,  and  have  been  as  proudly  Jews 
in  shame  as  ever  in  glory.  Heathen  and  Christian  governments  and 
communities  have  alike  persecuted  them ;  they  have  been  reviled  and 
spit  upon,  massacred  and  trodden  under  foot ;  but  they  have  exult- 
ingly  foretold  a  day  when  Judea  should  again  be  great,  with  her  new- 
come  Messiah,  her  re-united  tribes,  and  her  uprisen  temples. 

Dr.  Gottheil  is  of  the  average  height,  with  a  I'ound  and  erect 
figure.  He  is  in  the  prime  of  physical  development  and  activity,  and 
he  shows  it  in  his  constant  energy  and  buoyancy  of  spirits.  His 
manners  are  extremely  polite  and  fascinating.  He  has  a  large  head, 
with  a  full  face,  which  is  equally  expressive  of  intelligent  and 
amiable  characteristics.  In  social  life  he  is  greatly  admired,  for  his 
polish  and  ease  of  manners,  and  his  warm  and  genial  disposition, 
while  in  his  public  relations  he  also  exerts  the  widest  possible  in- 
fluence. 

He  preaches  with  much  vigor  of  mind  and  eloquence  of  delivery. 
A  learned  man,  he  has  also  tliose  quick  and  keen  natural  powers  of 
penetration  which  go  to  the  root  of  every  thing,  and  he  is  a  close  ob- 
server of  both  events  and  men.  Hence  he  always  speaks  with  a  clear 
understanding  of  his  theme,  and  with  opinions  of  human  affairs 
which  are  based  on  sound  knowledge  and  judgment  Distingnished 
in  other  lands  for  talents,  virtues,  and  success,  he  is  not  likely  to  fall 
short  of  extended  renown  and  usefulness  in  the  one  which  is  the  scene 
of  his  present  labors. 

240 


KEY.  CHARLES  H.  HALL,  D.  D., 

RECTOn      OF      THE      CIITjrtCII      OF      THE      HOEY 
TKIIVITY,    (EPISCOPAL.,)     33110 OKI EYIST. 


'EY.  DR.  CHARLES  H.  HALL  was  bom   at   Augusta, 

^  Georgia,  November  7th,  1820.      When  quite  young  he 
attended  an  academy  at  Andover,  Mass.,  and  was  graduated 
^_,  at  Yale  College  in  1842.     His  theological   studies  were 

^p  partly  in  private,  and  one  year  at  the  Greneral  Episcopal  Theor 
«^  logical  Seminary,  New  York  city.  He  was  ordained  deacon 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk,  Bishop  of  New  York, 
at  St.  Paul's  Chui-cb,  Red  Hook,  in  18-44,  and  priest  by  Bishop 
Brownell  of  Connecticut,  at  Fair  Haven  in  that  State,  in  November, 
1845.  His  iirst  settlement  was  as  rector  of  St  John's  Church, 
Huntington,  Long  Island,  in  1845,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
At  Easter,  1847,  he  took  charge  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Inno- 
cents, at  West  Point,  officiating  likewise  as  the  pastor  for  the  Military 
Academy.  After  remaining  at  West  Point  two  years,  he  removed 
to  South  Carolina,  where  he  became  rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  St 
John's  Island,  which  position  he  held  for  eight  years.  In  1856,  he 
was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  Wash- 
ington, one  of  the  most  wealthy  and  influential  parishes  of  that  city. 
The  congregation  was  composed  about  equally  of  northerners  and 
southerners.  Among  the  latter  were  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  family. 
During  the  whole  period  of  the  war,  Mr,  Davis'  pew  was  occupied 
by  Secretary  of  War  Stanton.  Several  of  the  chief  officers  of  the 
government  and  army  were  regular  attendants.  It  I'equired  great 
address  and  firmness  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Hall  to  preserve  calmness 
and  Christian  concord  in  his  congregation  at  such  a  time  of  public 
excitement,  regarding  the  war,  at  the  capital  of  the  nation.  "Few 
men,"  says  a  recent  authentic  statement,  "  would  have  succeeded  in 
standing  clear  of  offense,  especially  at  a  period  when  churches  were 
too  often  turned   into  political  assembly-houses,  and  our  preacliers 

forgot  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  that  of  the  Constitution.     Dr.  Hall, 

241 


REV.     CHARLES     H.      HALL,      D.  D. 

however,  was  pre-eminently  the  riglit  man  in  the  right  phace.  Eeal- 
izing  his  high  vocation  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  he  determined 
to  Icnow  nothing  and  to  preach  notliing  among  his  people  save  '  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified.'  At  this  the  young  and  headstrong  were 
discontented — they  wanted  political  harangues  and  party  denuncia- 
tions. The  graver  and  wiser  members,  however,  approved  his  course. 
Secretaries  and  statesmen  did  not  go  to  church  to  learn  politics  from 
their  clergymen  ;  and  thus,  through  all  the  heat  and  fever  of  that 
nervous  time,  the  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany  steered  his 
pastoral  bark  safely  through  the  smooth  waters  of  a  tranquil  Chris- 
tian faith.  He  believed  firmly  in  the  great  doctrines  of  the  nation, 
and  that  however  dark  appeared  the  national  horizon,  a  morning  of 
joy  would  at  length  break  u]Don  the  night  of  heaviness,  and  the 
storm-clouds  of  war  and  hatred  would,  in  God's  good  time,  pass 
away." 

Dr.  Hall  preached  a  sermon  of  great  power  and  impressiveness 
on  Easter  day,  1865,  the  second  day  after  the  assassination  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  In  October  of  the  same  year,  he  delivered  another  on 
"Conscience:  in  its  Kelation  to  the  duties  of  the  citizens  of  the 
State,"  which  was  published,  and  dedicated  to  his  parishioner,  the 
late  Hon.  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  He  was  the  rector  of  the  Church  of 
the  Epiphany  for  a  period  of  twelve  years,  and  by  his  position  ob- 
tained a  national  reputation  for  learning  and  eloquence. 

On  the  election  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  A.  N.  Littlejohn,  then  rector  of 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Brooklyn,  to  the  newly-created 
bishopric  of  Long  Island,  a  call  was  extended  to  Dv.  Hall  to  become 
the  rector  of  this  important  parish.  He  accepted,  and  entered  upon 
his  duties  on  March  1st,  1869,  and  has  secured  a  wide  popularity. 

Holy  Trinity  Church  is  a  splendid  stone  pile  on  the  corner  of 
Clinton  and  Montague  streets,  a  section  which  is  known  as  Brook- 
lyn Heights.  This  church  was  erected  by  the  munificence  of 
Edgar  J.  Bartow,  Esq.,  a  citizen  of  Brooklyn.  It  was  designed  by 
that  greatest  of  American  architects,  the  late  Lefevre,  and  the  found- 
ation was  commenced  on  April  1st,  1844.  The  cost  of  the  property 
was  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  then  regarded  as  a  very  large  sum  to  expend  for  a  church 
site  and  edifice.  The  church  was  entirely  completed  by  Mr.  Bartow, 
with  the  exception  of  the  spire.  The  rear  portion  of  the  main 
building  is  a  chapel,  and  there  is  also  a  fine  rectory  on  Montague 
street     There  are  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  pews,  which  will  seat 


EEV.     CHARLES     H.     HALL,     D.  D. 

about  twelve  hundred  people.  This  grand  and  capacious  edifice  was 
first  opened  for  religious  services  on  Trinity  Sunday,  April  25tli, 
1847.  The  chapel  had  been  opened  on  Trinity  Sunday,  June  7th, 
1846.  Being  private  property,  it  was  not  consecrated  for  several 
years,  during  which  time  it  was  under  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Lewis,  a  relation  of  the  owner.  Dr.  Lewis  formerly  had  charge  of 
Calvary  Church,  and  the  original  Holy  Trinity  congregation  was 
largely  made  up  from  this  parish.  At  length,  Mr.  Bartow  became 
involved  in  pecuniary  difiiculties,  and  tlie  church  was  found  to  be 
mortgaged,  chiefly  for  business  indebtedness,  to  the  amount  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  the  spring  of  1856  a  sale  of  the 
church,  under  a  third  mortgage  for  over  thirty  thousand  dollars,  was 
about  to  take  place,  when  spch  arrangements  were  made  that  it  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  congregation.  The  church  was  consecrated 
in  the  au.tumn  of  1856.  Though  laboring  under  a  debt  of  more 
than  tliirty  thousand  dollars,  prosperity  at  once  dawned  upon  the 
parish.  Dr.  Littlejohn  was  now  called.  During  his  rectorship  the 
debt  was  paid  off,  and  the  church  fully  completed  by  the  addition  of 
the  spire,  which  is  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  feet  high.  The 
contributions  during  the  year  1863  were  nearly  twenty -seven  thou- 
sand dollars.  In  January  of  the  same  year  over  twenty  thousand 
dollars  were  laid  on  the  altar  at  one  time  for  the  reduction  of  the 
debt,  which,  with  the  income  from  the  pews,  gave  the  handsome 
sum  of  nearly  forty  thousand  dollars  for  the  year.  In  eight  years 
the  contributions  were  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars.  In 
1864  the  number  of  communicants  was  three  hundred  and  ten, 
whereas  at  this  time  the  number  is  five  hundred  and  fifty.  The 
regular  Sunday  school  has  three  hundred  children,  and  a  large 
Mission  Sunday  school  is  maintained  on  Fulton  Avenue. 

Dr.  Hall  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  in  1860,  from  three  col- 
leges at  the  same  time,  viz :  Columbia  College,  New  York,  Hobart 
College,  Geneva,  and  St.  James  College,  Maryland.  Beside  a  large 
number  of  sermons,  he  has  published  two  important  works.  These 
are  "Notes  on  the  Gospels,"  in  two  volumes,  and  "True  Protestant 
Ritualism,"  a  reply  to  the  work  of  Bishop  Hopkins  entitled  "The 
Law  of  Ritualism."  In  this  latter  work  he  states  in  a  vevj  learned 
and  forcible  manner  the  views  of  the  Low  Church  branch  of  the 
Episcopal  denomination.  He  holds  that  Ritualism  is  antagonistic 
alike  to  the  Gospel  and  the  Church. 

Dr.  Hall  is  of  the  medium  height,  well-proportioned,  erect,  and 

243 


REV.     CHARLES     H.      HALL,     D.  D. 

nctive.  His  head  is  more  long  than  round,  but  every  part  of  it  is 
finely  cast  and  strictly  intellectual  The  brow  is  esj^ecially  perfect, 
rising,  as  it  does,  large  and  high  from  the  very  eyebrows,  while 
beneath  the  deep-set,  but  bright,  and  dark,  firm  ej^es  beam  forth  in 
never-ceasing  intelligence  and  gentleness.  His  dark  hair  is  slowly 
changing  to  an  iron-gray,  and  his  face  has  the  full  maturity  of  a  per- 
son of  his  years.  His  manners  are  courteous,  self-possessed,  and 
dignified.  From  both  his  countenance  and  manners  you  are  instantly 
impressed  with  the  ability  and  agreeable  ]3ersonal  qualities  of  the 
man.  If  ever  a  face  was  a  window  to  the  mind,  this  one  surely  is, 
and  the  same  vivid  interpretation  can  be  attained  from  his  demeanor. 
You  see  that  he  is  a  man  of  great  power  of  mind  and  energy.  His 
natural  ability  and  acquired  learning  rest  on  the  broadest  possible 
foundations,  and  his  industry  and  perseverance  in  any  and  all  labor 
are  of  the  most  positive  and  vigoi'ous  kind.  Kind-hearted  and  gentle 
for  most  occasions,  he  can  be  lion-hearted  and  inflexible  when  these 
qualities  are  necessary.  A  clergyman  and  student,  and  a  book-worm 
as  he  is,  still  he  is  a  shrewd  observer  of  all  the  world's  affairs  and  of 
mankind  His  eyes  see  everj^thing  that  comes  before  him,  and  his 
brain  penetrates  to  every  source  and  means  of  human  information. 
He  is  learned,  and  he  is  well  informed,  he  is  a  conscientious  priest, 
but  not  less  an  observing  man.  With  these  traits  of  character,  with 
this  thoroughness  of  education  and  observatio'n,  with  this  complete 
self-possession  and  energy,  he  is  eminently  fitted  for  the  highest 
success  in  the  ministry.  He  is  a  safe  guide  and  example  in  all  things. 
He  makes  no  mistakes  in  his  policy  or  proceedings,  and  he  holds  up 
no  uncertain  lights  for  himself  or  anybody  else.  Far-seeing,  prac- 
tical, self-reliant  and  courageous^  he  is  one  who  is  the  master  of  every 
situation,  and  naturally  a  leader  of  men.  In  all  his  parishes  he  has 
stood  among  the  people  as  their  devoted  and  fearless  spiritual  and 
moral  guide,  and  his  marked  talents  and  personal  character  have 
been  such  as  to  awaken  the  utmost  confidence  and  respect.  The 
soldiers  of  Napoleon  never  relied  more  on  the  wisdom  and  ability  of 
their  great  chieftain  than  do  the  parishioners  of  this  able  divine  on 
his  leadership  in  the  path  of  Christian  duty. 

Dr.  Hall,  in  his  published  works  and  sermons,  has  shown  a  fine 
literary  taste  and  remarkable  vigor  of  diction.  He  writes  in  smooth, 
terse,  compact  sentences,  and  his  arguments  are  logical  in  the  ex- 
treme. He  has  imagination  in  his  style  of  illustrating  beautiful  and 
origiual  thoughts,  but  he  is  far  from  being  impassioned,  or  simply 

244 


REV.     CHARLES     H,     HALL,     D.  D. 

giving  heed  to  elegance  of  oratory.  He  reasons  everything.  He 
looks  simply  to  the  doubts  and  obstacles  in  eveiy  subject,  and  he 
addresses  himself  solely  to  their  overthrow.  Scholarship,  literary 
experience,  fluency  of  brain,  and  the  ready  pen,  are  all  brought  into 
active  service,  with  results  which  are  alike  creditable  to  him  as  a 
thinker  and  writer.  Hence  his  books  and  his  sermons  are  very 
readable,  and  have  had  an  extensive  circulation  among  the  learned 
and  religious  classes. 

The  pulpit  has  few,  if  any,  in  it,  of  more  power  with  the  multi- 
tude, than  Dr.  Hall.  He  is  in  no  sense  sensational,  and  practices  no 
arts  to  attract  attention  or  win  approval.  In  fact,  he  shows  how 
needless  all  these  things  are  with  a  preacher  of  actual  power  of  mind. 
Intelligence  of  a  high  or  the  lowest  order  can  no  more  turn  away 
from  these  sermons,  in  which  the  scholar  and  logician  so  brilliantly 
appear,  than  the  magnetic  needle  can  turn  from  the  pole.  It  is  an 
array  of  logical,  well  expressed  ideas,  which  only  the  fool  can  fail 
to  appreciate.  It  is  not  a  mere  pleasing  of  the  fancy  and  taste  with 
choice  diction,  but  it  is  an  unfolding  of  a  great  and  comprehensive 
mind.  Seeking  light  you  find  it;  asking  for  bread  you  do  not  get 
a  stona 

245 


REV.    JOHN   HALL,  D.D., 

TA-STOK    OF    THE    FIFTH    A^VEIVTJE    niESBY- 
TEltlAIV    etCXJRCII,    ]VE\V"    YOKIt, 


)EY.  DR  JOHN  HALL  was  born  in  the  county  of  Ar- 
p)  magh,  Ireland,  July  31st,  1829.  His  ancestors  removed 
from  Scotland  to  the  north  of  Ireland  in  one  of  those  ex- 
tensive emigrations  which  gave  character  to  the  province 
of  Ulster,  designating  it  as  Protestant,  in  contrast  with 
south  of  Ireland,  which  is  almost  wholly  Catholic,  He 
first  saw  the  light  in  the  house  occupied  by  his  family  for  six  suc- 
cessive generations.  His  father  was  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  a  man  also  of  social  influence.  At  the  early  age  of 
thirteen  he  was  entirely  prepared  to  enter  Belfast  College,  where  he 
carried  off  a  prize  for  Hebrew.  Having  been  graduated,  he  became 
a  convert  in  the  church  of  his  fathers,  and  entered  upon  a  coarse  of 
studies  for  the  ministry.  He  proved  himself  the  foremost  of  his  class, 
uniformly  taking  prizes  at  tlie  examinations.  In  June,  1849,  he 
was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Belfast.  He  at  once 
accepted  a  call,  not  from  a  congregation,  but  from  his  own  class,  to 
go  as  their  missionary  to  a  station  among  a  Koman  Catholic  popu- 
lation in  the  west  of  Ireland.  Only  twenty  years  of  age,  and  fresh 
from  the  academic  halls,  it  was  a  trying  j^osition  for  him,  but  he 
showed  himself  equal  to  all  its  demands.  More  than  this,  he  re- 
ceived a  training  which  was  a  great  after  service  to  him.  He  was 
next  called  to  the  church  at  Armagh,  the  capital  of  the  county  of  the 
same  name,  and  the  seat  of  the  archi episcopal  see  of  the  Primate  of 
Ireland,  where  he  was  installed  June  30th,  1852.  Of  him  in  this  pastor- 
ship it  was  said :  "  Youthful,  healthful,  and  vigorous,  he  devoted 
himself  most  earnestly  to  all  departments  of  pastoral  work.  Labor- 
ing unceasingly  all  day,  and  studying  frequently  all  night,  his  influ- 
ence now  began  to  tell  upon  the  country. 

In  1858  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Church  of  Many's  Abbey,  now 

246 


REV.     JOHN    HALL,     D.D. 

Rutland  Square,  in  Dublin,  where  he  took  his  stand  foremost  among 
the  preacliers  of  the  Irish  Capital,  and  its  men  of  letters  and  public 
influence.  His  scholarly  investigations  were  given,  not  only  to  usual 
theological  studies,  but  to  those  matters  of  science  which  some  of 
the  most  brilliant  intellects  of  the  Old  World  were  attempting  to 
turn  against  the  Bible.  He  received  from  the  Queen  the  honorary 
appointment  of  Commissioner  of  Education  for  Ireland,  and  per- 
formed its  responsible  duties,  without  fee  or  reward,  until  his  re- 
moval to  the  United  States.  With  his  usual  earnestness  of  spirit, 
he  sought  to  secure  to  his  countrymen  an  undenominational  educa- 
tion and  literature.  His  name  was  proposed  for  the  moderatorship 
of  the  Irish  General  Assembly,  but  though  personally  popular,  he 
was  defeated  on  account  of  his  known  opposition  to  religious  estab- 
lishments. In  1867  he  was  a  delegate  of  the  Irish  General  Assem- 
bly to  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States.  He  was 
received  by  the  Old  School  General  Assembly,  in  session  at  Cin- 
cinnati, the  New  School  at  Rochester,  and  by  other  Presbyterian 
bodies,  with  a  great  deal  of  warmth  and  courtesy.  His  adi.lresses 
and  sermons,  wherever  delivered,  were  extremely  eloquent. 

About  this  period,  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  of 
New  York  was  seeking  a  pastor ;  and,  though  Dr.  Hall  had  never 
been  heard  by  the  members,  a  unanimous  call  was  extended  to 
him  in  the  autumn  following  his  visit  to  the  United  States.  He  at 
once  accepted,  so  deeply  had  he  been  interested  in  the  country,  and 
was  installed  on  the  evening  of  November  3d,  1867. 

The  Fifth  avenue  and  Nineteenth  street  congregation,  belong- 
ing formerly  to  the  Old-school  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
many  years  since  worshiped  in  Cedar  street;  then  removed  to 
Duane;  and  finally  constructed  a  fine  edifice  on  the  corner  of  Fifth 
avenue  and  Ninteenth  street  For  a  long  period  it  was  under  the 
pastoral  charge  of  the  distinguished  Rev.  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander. 
In  April,  1861,  the  Rev.  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice,  a  very  learned  and  emi- 
nent man  from  the  Kentucky,  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  churches,  be- 
came the  pastor,  who,  in  turn,  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Hall.  Since 
the  coming  of  Dr.  Hall,  the  congregation  has,  in  fact,  grown  and 
strengthened  in  every  way.  Crowds  attend  each  service,  and  great 
vitality  and  personal  zeal  are  shown  in  all  branches  of  the  Christian 
work  Dr.  Hall  has  certainly  secured  the  warmest  affection  of  the 
people.     His   week-day  services,  and  his  Bible  class,  are  attended 

both  by  his  own  members,  and  those  of  other  denominations. 

247 


REV.     JOHN    HALL,    D.  D. 

At  tbe  date  of  this  writing,  a  magnificent  church  is  in  course 
of  construction  for  this  congregation,  on  the  corner  of  Fifth  avenue 
and  Fiftj-iifth  street,  over  a  mile  and  three-quarters  further  up  town 
than  the  church  corner  of  Nineteenth  street.  The  corner-stone  was 
laid  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  on  Monday,  June  9th,  1873,  and 
the  completed  building  will  cost  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Dr.  Hall  is  much  above  the  medium  height,  and  has  a  large,  full, 
sturdy-looking  figure.  He  has  plenty  of  bone  and  strength.  There 
is  force  of  brain  and  of  body.  His  head  is  round,  with  marked  in- 
tellectual characteristics,  and  a  cast  of  features  peculiar  to  the  cul- 
tivated Irishman.  His  manners  are  not  without  dignity,  but  they 
are  always  most  respectful  and  agreeable  with  all  persons.  His  ap- 
pearance is  clerical,  as  he  adheres  to  the  "  white  cravat "  and  the 
plain  attire  of  the  early  ministers.  A  man  of  scholarly  taste,  and 
thoroagh  devotion  to  the  manifold  duties  of  the  ministerial  posi- 
tion, he  is  cheerful  and  animated  in  all  social  intercourse.  He  is 
frank  and  genial,  has  just  and  generous  views  on  all  subjects,  and 
quickly  endears  himself  to  those  with  whom  he  cotnes  in  contact 
You  at  once  discover,  however,  that  he  is  a  person  of  strong  charac 
ter,  and  capable  of  exerting  a  powerful  influence  by  reason  of  both 
great  talents  and  energies.  Hopeful  and  earnest,  able  and  conscien- 
tious, he  shows  a  happy  union  of  those  qualities  which  are  pleasing 
in  social  life  and  invaluable  in  a  public  career. 

His  contributions  in  the  religious  press  are  frequent  and  able. 
He  is  in  much  demand  as  a  speaker  on  public  occasions.  It  is  his 
custom  to  spend  his  summer  vacations  in  Ireland,  where  he  passes 
a  few  months  among  his  relations,  and  ministerial  friends. 

Dr.  Hall  is  a  profound  theological  scholar — not  one  of  your  sur 
face,  showy  men.  He  is  one  who  has  spent  midnight  oil  to  some 
purpose — one  who  has  gained  a  clearness  and  power  of  understand- 
ing that  illuminate  and  expound  the  deeper  topics  of  theological 
and  classical  scholarship.  His  doctrines  are  matters  of  fliith,  but 
his  preaching  is  a  scholarly  labor.  He  aims  not  at  eloquence,  at 
fine  writing,  at  sentiment  and  fancy,  but  he  seeks,  with  all  the  ability 
and  force  of  a  profound  mind,  to  expound  the  Scriptures,  and  discuss 
human  motives  and  duties.  In  law  there  are  pettifoggers  and  spe- 
cial pleaders;  and  in  the  ministry  there  are  sophists  and  talkers  of 
commonplaces.  He  is  great,  indeed,  in  any  sphere,  who  is  entitled  to 
be  called  an  expounder.  In  such  a  man  there  must  be  a  breadth 
and  scope  of  intellect  which  approach  to  the  godlike.     Before  it,  the 

248 


REV.     JOHN    HALL,     D.  D. 

lesser  understandings  are  dwarfed  and  dumb.  Before  it,  doubts, 
misconceptions,  and  ignorance  are  no  more  than  mists  meeting  the 
effulgent  sun. 

Dr.  Hall  is  an  expounder  of  tlie  Scriptures.  He  teaches  them 
as  he  explains  them.  He  does  not  merely  make  statements,  but  he 
proves  assertions.  He  argues,  illustrates,  examines,  penetrates,  and 
convinces.  It  is  not  prudent  for  sceptics  to  talk  with  him,  or  listen 
to  his  sermons.  He  has  an  armor  of  scholarship  which  has  served 
him  in  many  a  tilt  with  heresy  and  irreligion,  and  he  has  those  keen 
powers  of  natural  intelligence  which  give  the  greatest  force  to  argu- 
ment and  persuasion.  When  a  man  is  converted  under  the  preach- 
ing of  Dr.  Hall,  he  is  not  likely  to  have  any  doubts  either  as  to  faith 
or  his  dut^.  He  will  have  not  only  an  awakened  soul,  but  an  un- 
derstanding mind.  He  will  feel  that  his  feet  have  been  turned  into 
a  new  path,  and  also  know  that  his  own  mind  has  been  so  enlight- 
ened that  he  is  capable  of  guiding  them  aright  in  the  future. 

We  do  not  call  Dr.  Hall  an  orator,  in  the  common  acceptation 
of  that  term.  He  makes  no  demonstrations,  he  is  calm  ajid  moder- 
ate in  both  language  and  gestures,  and  still  he  is  deeply  impressive. 
But  it  is  the  impressiveness  of  dignity,  of  solemnity,  and  of  learning. 
There  is  solid  intellectual  and  religious  food  foi-  the  mind,  and  there 
is  the  pathetic  appeal  to  principle  and  duty.  All  is  said  kindly, 
but  forcibly.  All  is  said  under  a  full  conviction  of  obligation  on 
the  part  of  the  speaker,  and  with  no  motive  or  policy  in  regard  to 
any  person  or  circumstance.  His  heart  and  mind  are  fully  interest- 
ed in  his  efforts.  Standing  immeasurably  above  any  human  influ- 
ence or  ambition,  and  as  eager  for  the  attention  and  salvation  of  the 
beggar  as  the  millionaire,  he  is  a  preacher  who  has  won  fame  by  a 
consistency  and  devotedness  which  are  worthy  of  all  imitation. 
His  ministry  has  been  a  great  success  in  all  places,  and  this  end 
is  the  sum  of  his  ambition  and  pride. 

249 


IIEY.  BEMAML\  I.  HAIGIIT,  D.D., 

ONE    OF    TIIH:    ASSIST A-TSTT    IVTTlVrSTERH    OF    TItllV. 
CPIA.l'EL,    TVEAV    YORK:. 


lEV.  DK.  BENJAMIN  I.  HAIGRT  was  born  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  October  16th,  1809.  He  was  gradu- 
ated at  Columbia  College  in  1828,  and  at  the  Episcopal 
General  Theological  Seminary  in  1831,  being  ordained  the 
same  vear.  He  was  settled  as  the  first  rector  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  and  thus  remained  for  three  j'ears.  During  this  time 
he  was  librarian  of  the  Seminary.  From  1834  1o  1837  he  was  rector 
of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Cincinnati,  and  then  returning  to  New  York, 
officiated  at  All  Saints'  Church  for  nearly  ten  years.  He  did  not  al- 
low his  duties  as  rector  to  prevent  him  from  accepting  the  acting  pro- 
fessorship of  Pastoral  Theology  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary 
in  1837,  and,  becoming  professor  in  1841,  he  held  tlie  position  until 
June,  1855.  His  connection  with  Trinity  parish  commenced  in  1855, 
subsequent  to  which  he  went  abroad  in  greatly  impaired  liealtli,  re- 
maining some  three  years.  On  his  return  he  was  assigned  to  St.  Paul's 
Church,  with  which  he  is  still  associated.  He  was  secretary  of  the 
convention  of  the  diocese  for  twenty  years,  and  member  and  secre- 
tary of  the  standing  committee  for  ten  years.  He  is  one  of  the  oldest 
trustees  of  Columbia  College,  from  which  institution  he  received  the 
deo-ree  of  D.  D.  in  1846.  He  has  published  a  small  volume  of  ser- 
mons, and  other  occasional  sermons  and  addresses.  In  1873  he  was 
elected  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  but  declined  the  office. 

Dr.  Haight  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  stout,  with  some  inclina- 
tion to  corpulency.  He  has  a  large,  round  head,  with  the  face  full, 
fat,  and  ruddy.  His  countenance  has  a  serious,  reflective,  and  half- 
anxious  repose,  which,  however,  under  certain  influences,  changes  to 
a  peculiarly  animated,  gladsome  expression.  He  is  a  man  of  the 
most  thoughtful   attention  to  duty,   showing  an  entire  absorption  of 

mind  in  his  daily  professional  avocations.     Hence  he  is  always  found 

250 


REV.     BENJAMIN     I.     HAIGHT,     D.  D. 

active  and  busy,  allowing  nothing  to  draw  him  away  from  a  hearty 
and  practical  application  of  his  energies  to  his  Christian  work.  A 
long  career  of  manifest  usefulness  is  a  sufficient  proclamation  of  his 
consistency  of  faith  and  practice,  which  even  moderate  personal  asso- 
ciation is  sure  to  confirm,  both  by  declaration  and  deeds.  While 
thus  given  up  to  his  religious  duties,  his  mind  is  free  from  that 
gloominess,  and  his  manners  of  that  austerity,  not  unusual  with  the 
clerg}'.  On  the  contrary.  Dr.  Haight  hasacheerfuJness  of  spirits  and 
a  geniality  of  character  of  the  most  appreciable  description.  With  a 
studied  decorum  natural  to  a  public  man,  he  mingles  those  conside- 
rate unbendings  of  dignity  which  give  a  charm  to  social  intercourse, 
and  with  those  of  congenial  temperaments  he  indulges  in  a  flow  of 
spirited,  lively,  entertaining  conversation.  The  reserve,  formality, 
and  coldness  noticeable  in  him  while  in  the  discharge  of  his  public 
functions,  disappear  in  private.  He  is  entirely  approachable,  friend- 
ly, and  communicative.  Moreover,  he  is  diffident  of  his  own  merit 
and  humble  of  his  own  performances,  his  only  pride  being  in  the 
fidelity  and  zeal  of  his  labors.  Regarded  in  his  public  or  ]3rivate  re- 
lations, he  is  equally  deserving  of  praise,  and  in  each  exhibits  those 
characteristics  which  prove  most  acceptable  in  the  preacher  and  the 
man. 

Dr.  Haight's  style  of  preaching  does  not  differ  materially  from  that 
of  the  majority  of  Episcopal  ministers.  His  sermons  are  brief,  and 
embody  the  plain,  direct  inculcation  of  moral  and  religious  truths 
without  the  slightest  attempt  at  fine  writing  or  brilliant  delivery.  He 
evidently  sets  out  with  the  single  purpose  of  offering  appropriate  pul- 
pit teachings,  and  there  rests  satisfied,  without  any  efforts  calculated 
to  invoke  encomium  for  the  individual.  There  is  much  impressive 
solemnity  in  his  preaching,  however.  Speaking  with  few  changes 
of  his  voice,  and  using  but  little  gesture,  still  his  manner  is  so  ex- 
pressive of  personal  seriousness  and  responsibility,  and  his  tone  is 
one  of  such  earnestness  and  kindliness,  that  the  heart  is  prone  to  be 
touched  by  something  quite  as  potent  as  the  silvery  strains  of  elo- 
quence. Whatever  he  says  is  said  so  clearly,  that  no  one  can  fail  to 
understand  his  meaning ;  whatever  he  condemns  is  condemned  emphat- 
ically,  and  whatever  he  upholds  is  upheld  zealously. 

It  is  a  sermon  in  the  correct  sense — a  considerate  and  seasonable 
lesson  fi'om  the  holy  desk — a  shejDherd's  voice  calling  to  earth's  scat- 
tered fold,  and,  as  such,  leaves  a  permanent  influence  far  exceeding 

that  of  the  more  ostentatious  kind  of  discourse. 

251 


REV.     BENJAMIN     I.     HAIGHT,     D.  D. 

Dr.  Haight's  title  to  public  approbation  and  private  love  proceeds 
from  his  true  and  noble  excellence  of  character,  and  great  usefulness 
as  a  man.  His  labors  have  been,  and  are,  truly  valuable  to  the 
church  and  the  community.  As  a  rector  in  various  parishes,  as  a 
theological  professor,  and  as  a  coadjutor  in  many  departments  of 
Christian  and  educational  enterprise,  he  has  been  a  patient  and  faith- 
ful worker,  seeking  neither  emoluments  nor  honors,  but  simply  to  toil. 
This,  in  a  word,  is  his  career.  Quietly,  unobtrusively,  and  with 
never-ceasing  diligence,  he  has  moved  in  a  wide  sphere  of  duty,  at- 
tracting little  public  remark,  but  gathering  to  himself  the  affections 
of  many  illustiious  cotemporaries,  and  writing  his  name  in  the  hearts 
of  the  host  made  worthier  through  his  teachings  and  example. 

252 


REV.  SAMUEL   M.  HAMILTON,  A.  M., 

JXJiviors,  pj^STon  of  the  scotch  presisyte 

KIA-N  CHURCH,  IVEW  YORIt. 


EY.  SAMUEL  M.  HAMILTON  was  bom  at  Conlig, 
Down  County,  Ireland,  April  19th,  1848.  He  was 
gi-aduated  at  Queen's  University,  Belfast,  in  1868,  tak- 
tlie  degree  of  B.  A.,  and  in  the  following  year  that  of 
A.  M.  In  1870  he  was  graduated  in  theology  at  the 
^  Presbyterian  Assembly  College  in  Belfast,  Having  been  licensed 
by  the  Presbytery  of  that  city,  in  May,  1870.  he  was  called  to  the 
pastorship  of  the  Great  George's  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  Belfast, 
and  was  ordained  in  November  of  the  same  year.  He  officiated  most 
acceptably  for  two  years  and  a  half,  making  an  extended  reputation 
for  the  preaching  of  sound  doctrines,  and  an  earnest,  pious  devotion 
to  his  work.  A  call  was  now  given  him  by  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
Church,  New  York,  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  venerable  and 
distinguished  Eev.  Dr.  Joseph  McElroy,  to  take  the  chief  charge  of 
this  congregation  on  the  retirement  of  the  pastor,  by  reason  of  age  and 
infirmities,  which  he  accepted,  and  came  to  the  United  States.  He 
was  dully  installed  over  the  Scotch  Church  on  the  second  Sunday  in 
October,"  1873. 

This  congregation  was  organized  about  a  century  ago,  being  com- 
posed of  a  body  of  seceders  from  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 
They  were  originally  known  as  the  First  Associate  Eeformed  Church, 
and  later  by  their  present  title  of  Scotch  Presbyterian.  A  new 
church  having  been  erected  on  the  corner  of  Grand  and  Crosby 
streets,  it  was  occupied  in  1887,  and  this  was  given  up  in  1853 
for  still  more  costly  structures  on  West  Fourteenth  street  The 
property  extends  from  Fourteenth  to  Fifteenth  streets,  and  with  the 
church  and  a  school  house  on  the  last  named  street,  cost  over  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  253 


REV.    SAMUEL    M.     HAMILTON,    A.  M. 

Mr.  Hamilton  is  an  erect,  gracefully  proportioned  person,  witn  a 
face  beaming  with  intelligence  and  good  nature.  His  manners  are 
polite  and  cordial.  You  see  at  once  that  he  is  a  cultivated,  warm- 
hearted gentleman,  and  are  naturally  drawn  to  him  as  such;  but 
there  is  so  much  of  genuine  and  unaffected  friendliness  about  his 
speech  and  actions,  that  even  a  stranger  feels  toward  him  like  an  old 
friend.  Looking  at  his  face,  you  see  no  line  there  which  does  not 
declare  him  to  be  an  intellectual  and  upright  man.  His  brow  is  con- 
spicuous for  its  evidences  of  the  first,  and  the  other  features,  by  every 
t^^pe  from  which  judgment  can  be  formed,  declare  him  to  be  a  man 
of  unswerving  principle.  In  his  relations  as  a  clergyman  he  is  a 
model  in  all  respects.  Strong  and  clear  in  his  judgment,  conscien- 
tious and  devoted,  learned  and  unthinking  of  toil,  he  discharges  his 
duties  with  efficiency  and  success.  He  is  still  a  young  man,  and  the 
future  daily  unfolding  before  him,  is  to  make  the  rejjutation  by  which 
he  will  be  judged.  But  it  is  now  to  be  seen  that  he  is  laying  broad 
and  deep  foundations.  An  absorbed  and  brilliant  student,  he  is  pro- 
perly seeking  in  sound  and  thorough  theological  learning  the  basis  of 
his  power  in  the  pulpit.  He  preaches  already  with  the  fluency  and 
vigor  which  come  from  talents,  constantly  enlarged  under  such  a 
course  of  training,  and  he  has  made  his  mark  in  the  American,  as  he 
did  in  the  Irish  pulpit.  A  pious  man,  an  earnest  scholar,  and  an 
eloquent  preacher,  he  is  worthily  a  colleague  in  the  pastorship  with 
the  great  McElroy. 

254 


MY.  THOMAS  A.  T.  HANNA, 

P»A.STOR     OF     THE     riFTH     BA.T»TIlST     CHURCH, 
BROOIt3L,Y]V    (E.I>.) 


THOMAS  A.  T.  HANNA  was  born  in  the  North 
of  Ireland,  August  6th,  1842.  The  family  removed  to 
Scotland,  where  he  lived  until  seven  years  of  age,  when 
they  came  to  the  United  States.  His  father  v/as  a  far- 
mer in  Ireland.  His  grandfather  was  the  Rev.  Dv. 
Alexander  Corson,  a  well  known  Irish  writer  on  Baptism, 
Church  Government,  and  Providence.  He  has  one  brother 
already  in  the  ministry  in  Philadelphia,  and  another  is  now  pursu- 
ing his  studies.  His  own  early  studies  were  in  the  public  schools 
of  New  York,  where  lie  proved  himself  a  pupil  of  great  promise. 
Having  entered  the  Madison  University,  a  Baptist  institution  in  the 
village  of  Hamilton,  Madison  county,  New  York,  he  was  graduated 
in  1864,  and  in  theology  in  1866.  He  was  licensed  to  the  Baptist 
ministry  in  1862,  and  in  August,  1866,  was  ordained  and  installed 
as  pastor  of  the  Central  Baptist  church  in  the  Eastern  District  of 
Brooklyn.  He  is  now  the  pastor  of  the  Fifth  Baptist  Church  in  the 
same  section  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Hanna  is  of  the  medium  height,  equally  proportioned,  and 
has  all  the  vigor  and  energy  natural  to  a  person  of  his  years.  He 
has  a  head  of  the  average  size,  with  regular,  intelligent  features. 
He  is  a  modest-bearing  young  man,  but  has  strong  points  of  char- 
acter. He  is  devotedly  pious,  and  religion  with  him  is  an  inborn 
rule  of  his  thoughts  and  life.  In  his  disposition  he  is  calm  and 
thoughtful,  and  he  is  a  lover  of  study  and  serious  reflection.  He  is 
courteous  and  genial  with  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact,  but 
there  is  always  a  degree  of  seriousness  and  a  holy  sadness  about  his 
demeanor  and  conversation.  Religious  topics,  and  the  duties  which 
belong  strictly  to  his  pastorship,  exert  the  best  influence  upon  him. 
Under  these  circumstances  he  shows  animation,  and  has  somethhig 
like  enthusiasm  in   the  discharge  of  his  labors.     Without  being  a 

255 


BEV.     THOMAS    A,    T.    HANNA. 

fanatic,  he  is  certainly  an  enthusiast  as  a  religionist,  for  it  is  in  ttiis 
character  alone  that  you  find  him  showing  the  strength  of  purpose 
and  feeling  which  is  in  him.  Passive,  cold  as  a  block  of  ice,  indif- 
ferent to  almost  all  the  concerns  of  life,  a  nothing  and  a  nobody, 
without  action,  resolution,  or  ambition:  this  is  what  the  separation 
of  himself  from  relisrious  duties  and  a  ministerial  life  would  have 
made  of  him.  Quick,  warm,  with  tender  emotions,  zealous  in  the 
advocacy  of  principles  and  the  battle  of  faith,  a  moral  hero,  and  "a 
host  in  himself,"  full  of  energy,  courage,  and  a  desire  for  great 
achievements :  tliis  is  what  he  is  as  an  ordained  minister  of  the 
church,  with  a  consciousness  of  his  responsibilities,  and  a  delight  in 
fulfilling  them. 

His  course  in  the  University  was  brilliant,  and  a  sure  guarantee 
of  the  usefulness  which  he  was  to  display  in  his  profession.  He 
found  himself  in  his  proper  element,  and  studied,  not  mechanically, 
but  with  the  inspiration  of  one  called  to  extraordinary  and  sancti- 
fied duties.  His  habits  and  deportment  presented  no  compromises 
with  duty  or  with  moral  and  religious  principles,  for  he  was  not 
only  a  converted  man,  but  he  felt  himself  inspired  for  the  labor  of 
the  ministry.  Set  apart  for  this  work,  disconnected  and  uninter- 
ested in  worldly  affairs,  save  in  their  relation  to  the  advancement  of 
the  cause  of  religion,  he  became  as  perfectly  lukewarm  upon  all 
other  subjects  as  he  was  ardent  and  sincere  in  that  of  his  church  and 
faith. 

The  sermons  of  Mr.  Hanna  show  depth  and  power,  and  give 
high-  promise  of  his  future  as  a  powerful  and  eloquent  expounder  of 
the  Scriptures.  The  writing  is  terse  -and  to  the  point.  He  does 
not  wa^te  words  ;  he  is  not  disconnected  and  rambling,  but  he  is 
graphic  and  clear,  and  close  and  keen  in  his  argument.  He  writes 
as  if  he  understood  his  subject ;  he  shows  that  he  is  not  willing  to 
go  beyond  any  assertion  wherein  he  is  not  capable  of  fully  elucidat- 
ing it ;  and  he  imparts  to  the  whole  the  utmost  fervor  of  feeling. 
His  amiable,  youthful  face,  his  considerate,  kindly  tone,  and  his  well- 
weighed,  serious  words  are  each  and  all  potent  in  his  public  minis- 
trations. He  at  least  cannot  be  doubted  as  a  true  and  zealous 
young  Christian  ;  and  those  who  are  young,  like  himself,  and  those 
who  have  passed  further  along  in  life  s  journey,  with  perhaps  less 
profit,  are  always  sensitive  listeners  to  his  appeals. 

256 


HEY.  SAMUEL  M.  HASKIXS,  D.  D., 

BilOOIvL"SriV,    (lEl.    JO.) 


>EY.  DR  SAMUEL  M.  HASKINS  was  bom  at  Water- 
ford,   Oxford  county,  Maine,   May   29th,  1813,   and  his 

^^D^H  early  studies  were  in  that  State.  He  was  graduated  at 
g^:^s=^  Union  College  in  1836,  and  at  the  General  Ejjiscopal 
^P  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  in  1839.  He  was  made  a 
*^  deacon  of  the  Episcopal  Church  at  the  Church  of  the  Ascension, 
New  York,  by  Bishop  Onderdonk,  in  June,  1836,  and  priest  at  the 
Chapel  of  St.  Mark's,  Williamsburgh,  in  July,  1840,  by  the  same 
bishop.  He  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  St.  Mark's  in  October, 
1839,  and  has  now  been  in  the  parish  for  the  period  of  thirty-four 
years.  This  organization,  which  was  nursed  into  strength  and  use- 
fulness by  the  patient  and  earnest  efforts  of  Dr.  Haskins,  has  enjoyed 
the  advantage  of  his  care  and  love  throughout  its  whole  interesting 
history.  It  is  the  parent  of  all  the  other  Episcopal  churches  in  that 
section  of  Brooklyn,  which  now  number  seven  flourishing  parishes. 

St.  Mark's  Church  was  organized  by  the  Eev.  Mr.  Davis,  in 
October,  1837,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  then  village  of  Williamsburgh, 
as  a  missionary  enterprise.  Mr.  Davis  was  the  first  rector,  but  left 
the  parish  in  May  or  June,  1839.  When  Dr.  Haskins  was  called, 
the  services  were  held  in  a  small  whitewashed  brick  building  in  the 
midst  of  a  cornfield.  He  preached  his  first  sermon  on  the  twenty- 
first  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1839.  The  congregation  then  consisted 
of  about  fourteen  families  and  eighteen  communicants.  There  was' 
no  other  parish  between  Astoria  and  Brooklyn,  yet  the  population 
was  small  and  sparse — fields  and  orchards  covering  a  large  portion 
of  the  now  populous  city.  The  congregation  steadily  increased,  and 
it  was  determined  to  build  a  larger  church  edifice.  Three  lots  were 
obtained  on  what  is  now  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  South-Fifth  streets, 
and  a  stone  building  was  erected.     The  whole  cost  of  the  property 

was  between  sixteen  and  seventeen  thousand  dollars — a  large  sum 

257 


EEV.     SAMUEL     M.     HASKINS,     D.  D. 

for  a  feeble  congregation  in  those  days — and  on  its  completion  a  debt 
remained  of  six  thousand  dollars.     In  May,  1841,  the  church  was 
consecrated.     The  congregation  steadily  increased  with  the  growth 
of  the  cit}^     In  1846,  a  new  congregation,  under  the  name  of  Christ 
Church,  was  organized,  and  entirely  made  up  of  families  from  St. 
Mark's.     A  series  of  missionary  services,  commenced  by  Dr.  Haskins 
in  the  same  year  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  town,  resulted  in  the 
organization  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  which  was  received  into  the  con- 
vention in  1848.     These  were  followed  by  other  parishes  from  time 
to  time,  until  the  large  number  of  seven  now  attest  to  the  zeal  and 
liberalitv  of  the  mother  church.     The  original  debt  was  paid  off  in 
1848.     At  the  same  date  the  church  was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
a  proper  chancel  and  choir,  and  an  increase  to  the  nave  of  about  two 
hundred  sittings.     It  was  also  greatly  beautified  by  the  addition  of 
several   memorial  windows.     In  1860   further  important  additions 
were  made  to  the  church,  and  other  memorial  windows  have  been 
added,  until  all  of  them  are  now  of  this  character.     During  twenty- 
one  years,  up  to  1860,  baptism  was  administered  to  nine  hundred 
and  eighteen  infants  and  adults  ;  there  were  four  hundred  and  eight 
confirmations,  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  new  communicants,  two 
hundred  and  ninety-one  marriages,  and  four  hundred  and  eighty-two 
burials.     Up  to  1869,  fourteen  hundred  and  two  persons  of  all  ages 
sought  Heaven's  blessing  in  repentance  at  this  altar.     Over  eight 
hundred  of  the  original  parishioners  are  no  more.     Nearly  six  thou- 
sand dollars  have  been  contributed  in  humble  mites  for  the  poor  and 
sick,  eight  thousand  four  hundred  dollars  lor  missionary  purposes, 
and  over  fifty-six  thousand  dollars  in  all  for  the  cure  of  souls,  exclu- 
sive of  pew  rents,  etc.     Six  ministers  now  preaching  from  Christian 
pulpits   were  originally  connected  with    the   Sunday  School.      In 
twenty  years  the  church  was  never  closed  but  for  two  Sundays. 
During  the  same  time  Dr.   Haskins  was  never  absent  from  his  post 
of  duty  more  than  five  Sundays  in  succession,  and  preached  and 
lectured  about  twenty-five  hundred  times.     The  holy  communion 
was  never  administered  by  other  hands  than  his  own  but  four  times 
in  twenty-one  years. 

There  are  now  three  hundred  and  sixty-eight  communicants  and 
three  hundred  and  fifty  children  in  the  Sunday  School.  The  thirtieth 
anniversary  of  Dr.  Haskins'  rectorship  was  celebrated,  with  appro- 
priate services,  in  the  month  of  Octobei-,  1869.  The  church  was  beau 

tifully  decorated  with  flowers,  and  a  broad  baiuier  in  front  of  the 

258 


REV.      SAMUEL     M.     HA  SKINS.     D.  D. 

org-m  nad  inscribed  on  it  the  words,  "  Peace  be  within  thy  walls." 
A  monumental  floral  ofifering  of  exquisite  beauty  stood  in  front  of 
the  chance],  bearing  upon  its  summit  a  golden  sheaf,  which  was 
typical  of  the  long  sei-vices  of  the  rector,  during  which  he  had  gath- 
ered a  ricb  religious  harvest.  From  the  chandelier  depended  china- 
asters,  everlastings,  and  gi-oups  of  pretty  verbenas  and  other  flowers. 
The  windows  were  likewise  ornamented.  The  Riglit  Rev.  A.  IST. 
Littlejohn.  Bishop  of  Long  Island,  and  many  other  distinguished 
clergymen,  were  present,  with  a  large  congregation.  The  rector  de- 
livered an  impressive  historical  sermon,  which  has  been  published  in 
pamphlet  form.  It  may  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  Willian  Coard,  the 
organist  of  this  church,  has  held  the  position  since  1848,  and  the 
sexton  for  even  a  more  extended  time.  The  church  now  stands  in 
the  older  portion  of  the  city,  and  is  quite  plain  and  unostentatious 
compared  with  church  edifices  of  more  modem  erection  in  other 
neighborhoods.  Still,  with  the  improvements  that  have  been  made 
in  the  exterior  and  interior,  it  has  a  very  neat  and  tasteful  appear- 
ance, and  looks  as  should  the  venerable  cradle  of  so  manv  rich  and 
powerful  parishes. 

Dr.  Haskins  received  his  degree  of  D.  J),  from  Union  College 
about  twelve  years  since.  His  publications  consist  of  various  occa- 
sional sermons. 

He  is  of  the  average  height  and  well-proportioned.  He  walks 
with  an  erect  figure  and  an  active  step.  His  attire  is  strictly  clerical. 
His  head  is  large,  with  a  broad  ftice  of  marked  intellectuality  and 
amiability.  The  features  are  large  but  regular.  It  is  at  all  times  a 
cheerful  and  engaging  face  to  look  upon.  Though  it  shows  decision 
and  force  of  character,  there  is  a  kindness  in  the  gaze  of  tlie  eye  and 
a  good-natured  smile  that  plays  about  the  mouth,  which  prevent  it 
from  ever  being  other  than  expressive  of  gentle  and  noble  traits  of 
character.  His  manners  are  of  the  gentlemanly,  tender,  considerate, 
and  kind,  that  always  win  the  heart.  No  matter  when  or  where  you 
see  him,  he  greets  you  with  the  warmth  of  a  sincere  friendship  and 
love.  With  cheerfulness  and  smiles,  with  kind  words  and  genial  ac- 
tions, he  has  ever  made  himself  an  object  of  gi'eat  popular  favor 
among  his  own  people,  and  in  social  and  public  life  generally.  He 
is  wsll  described  in  those  words  in  which  Cowper  portrays  the  model 
preacher : 

"In  doctrine  uncormpt;  in  language  jjlain. 
And  plain  in  manner;  decent,  solemn,  chaste, 
259 


REV.     SAMUEL     M.      HASKINS,     D.  D. 

And  natural  in  gesture;  much  impress'd 
Himself,  as  conscious  of  his  awful  charge, 
And  anxious  mainly  that  the  flock  he  feeds 
May  feel  it  too;  affectionate  in  look, 
And  tender  in  address,  as  well  becomes 
A  messenger  of  grace  to  guilty  men." 

Seeing  him  iii  the  pulpit,  tlie  living  impersonation  of  this  portrait 
is  brought  vividly  before  3^ou.  Ilis  clear,  positive  faith  in  the  doc- 
trines he  proclaims,  and  his  equally  clear  and  positive  language  ;  his 
unpretending,  circumspect,  and  solemn  manners ;  his  ease  and  grace 
of  delivery  and  gesture  ;  his  evident  sense  of  the  obligations  of  his 
position  ;  his  tender  appeals  to  the  unconverted  ;  his  affectionate  look- 
ing from  face  to  face  of  those  who  are  his  sheep,  all  appear  in  most 
striking  reality.  He  isjiot  looking  for  popular  applause,  but  he  is 
anxious  to  do  his  whole  duty  as  a  preacher  of  the  glad  tidings  of  sal- 
vation. He  is  not  seeking  to  exalt  himself  and  his  talents,  but  he  is 
pleading  with  his  whole  mind  and  heart  to  save  those  in  guilt  and 
peril  He  is  eloquent;  his  words  flow  with  fluency  and  beauty  ;  he 
is  strong  in  argument  and  inspired  with  faith,  but  none  of  this  is  in- 
tended to  awaken  an  emotion  personal  to  himself  His  language, 
tone,  and  manners  will  not  allow  you  to  escape  from  a  knowledge  of 
this  fact,  and  it  gives  great  additional  power  and  effectiveness  to  his 
preaching.  In  this  day  of  worldly  ambition  and  of  selfishness,  you 
can  but  be  drawn  nearer  to  the  man  who  shows  himself  entirely  free 
from  thera,  and  thoroughly  devoted,  with  humility  and  seriousness 
of  spirit,  to  the  work  of  the  Master. 

Dr.  Haskins  has  labored  from  early  manhood  to  the  decline  of 
life  in  one  parish.  In  that  time  he  has  seen  a  great  city  grow  up 
about  him,  with  the  manifold  changes  and  trials  it  has  brought  to 
his  parish.  He  has  seen  the  little  seed  of  his  nursing  and  watering 
grow  into  the  tall  tree  of  religious  power,  and  he  has  seen  its  goodly 
boughs  severed  one  after  the  other,  until  the  ancient  trunk  is  all 
that  remains.  Venerable  with  age,  hoary,  but  not  decayed,  it  still 
stands  where  it  was  first  planted  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  and  its 
faithful  husbandman  will  guard  it  until  he,  too,  falls  to  his  rest  be- 
neath its  holy  shade. 

260 


EEY.  THOMAS  S.  HASTIi\GS,  D.  D., 

PA.STOK.      OF      THE       'liVEST      I»RIi:!SI3YTEmA.lV 


'EY.  DR  THOMAS  S.  HASTINGS,  pastor  of  the  West 
Presbyterian  Church  in  "West  Forty-second  street,  is  one 
of  the  most  popular  and  successful  ministers  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  He  is  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  was  bom  Augast  28th,  1827,  making  him  forty-six  years 
of  age.  In  1832,  his  father,  Thomas  Hastings,  well  known  as 
a  distinguished  professor  of  music,  removed  to  New  York  city, 
where  the  son  pursued  his  early  studies.  He  was  graduated  at 
Hamilton  College  in  1848,  and  at  the  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York,  in  1851.  He  was  licensed  and  ordained  by  the  Fourth 
Presbytery  of  New  York.  In  July,  1852,  he  became  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Mendham,  New  Jersey,  where  he  remained 
four  years.  He  was  called  in  June,  1856,  to  his  present  pastorate. 
He  began  his  labors  on  the  first  of  the  following  month. 

The  West  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  by  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York,  November  1st,  1829,  under  the  name  of  the  North  Pres- 
byterian Church.  The  name  was  changed  June  25th,  1831,  to  the 
"West  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  City  of  New  York."  In  Janu- 
ary, 1832,  the  Rev.  David  R.  Downer  became  the  first  pastor,  when 
the  church  consisted  of  eighteen  members.  The  first  edifice  was 
erected  in  Carmine  street,  head  of  Varick,  in  the  autumn  of  1831-32. 
It  was  completed  in  the  spring  of  1832,  and  dedicated  May  27th,  of 
that  year.  The  Rev.  Edwin  Hoyt  succeeded  Mr.  Downer,  and 
oificiated  about  four  years.  On  the  2d  of  July,  1846,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  H.  Skinner,  Jr.,  was  called  from  Paterson,  and  he  was  fol- 
lowed, ten  years  later,  by  the  present  pastor,  whose  installation  took 
place  October  20th,  1856. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  congregation,  September  21st,  1860,  the 
trustees  were  authorized  to  engage  for  one  year  the  chapel  of  Rutgers 

Institute,  on  Fifth  Avenue,   between  Forty-first  and   Forty-second 

261  -^  -^ 


EEV.     THOMAS     S.      HASTINGS,     D.  D. 

streets,  and  tliey  were  also  authorized  to  employ  an  assistant  for  tlie 
pastor,  that  public  worship  might  be  maintained  both  in  the  chapel 
and  in  the  church  in  Carmine  street.  Accordingly,  the  Rev.  Eldridge 
Mix  was  employed  to  aid  the  pastoi-,  and  regular  Sabbath  services 
were  commenced  in  Rutgers  Institute  chapel,  October  7th,  1860. 
In  the  autumn  of  the  following  year  arrangements  were  made  for 
finally  closing  the  down  town  church,  which  finally  took  place, 
October  27th,  1861.  The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  ad- 
ministered as  the  concluding  service  in  the  church  edifice,  which  was 
hallowed  by  the  memories  of  nearly  thirty  years.  The  increase  of 
the  congregation  up  town  rendered  a  removal  necessary  to  Crystal 
Hall,  which  was  occupied  until  a  new  chapel  was  completed  on  a 
portion  of  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  congregation  in  Forty-second 
street.  This  building  was  dedicated  December  14th,  1862.  It  was 
anticipated  that  the  chapel  would  afford  sufficient  accommodations 
for  some  years  to  come ;  but  the  rapid  growth  of  the  congregation 
soon  made  it  necessary  to  provide  for  the  erection  of  the  present  mag- 
nificent church,  the  ground  for  which  was  broken  in  August,  1863. 

This  edifice  is  one  of  peculiar  architectural  design,  and  attracts 
great  attention  from  visitors  to  New  York.  It  occupies  ground  102 
feet  by  78  feet,  and  abuts  immediately  upon  the  chapel  previously 
erected.  The  auditorium  is  a  perfect  square  of  7-4  feet  by  74  feet, 
and  the  pulpit  platform  gives  an  additional  12  feet  of  depth. 
The  organ  and  gallei-y  for  the  choir  form  the  principal  decorative 
features  of  the  north  end  of  the  church.  The  gas  lights  are  princi- 
pally out  of  sight,  being  concentrated  under  a  series  of  ])owerful 
reflectors  above  the  great  skylight,  and  also  being  disposed  around 
the  back  of  the  central  arch  over  the  pulpit.  The  leading  idea  in 
the  style  of  architecture  is  the  Italian  Gothia  The  columns  sup- 
porting the  entrance  porch  are  of  polished  Peterhead  granite,  the 
basis  and  capitals  of  Italian  marble.  In  this  portion  there  are  some 
rare  specimens  of  the  sculptor's  art,  one  of  which  is  the  figure  of  an 
angel  of  benediction  in  the  tympanum  of  the  arch.  The  painting 
of  the  interior  is  also  highly  artistic  and  beautiful.  The  church  was 
dedicated  April  23d,  1865,  and  cost,  with  the  ground,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

In  this  unique  and  beautiful  church,  situated  in  one  of  the  best 
neighborhoods  of  the  citj^,  Dr.  Hastings  now  addresses  from  Sabbath 
to  Sabbath  his  large  congregation.  There  are  four  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  members,  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  children  in 

263 


REV.     TPIOMAS     S.     HASTINGS,    D.  D. 

the  Sunday  school  at  the  church,  and  six   hundred  in   two  Mission 
Sunday  schools. 

In  1872  the  congregation  completed  a  structure  known  as  First 
Mission  Chapel  on  Forty-sixth  street,  near  Tenth  avenue,  at  a  cost 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  The  edifice  is  of  brick  and  covers  two 
lots,  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet.  The  front  is  trimmed  with  blue- 
stone,  and  at  each  end  is  a  small  tower  with  a  spire. 

The  pews  accommodate  five  hundred  persons,  and  there  are  en- 
couraging evidences  that  the  mission  will  produce  excellent  fruits. 
A  clergyman  is  to  be  permanently  attached  to  the  chapel,  and 
comfortable  apartments  have  been  arranged  over  the  library  for 
his  accommodation.  The  Sunday  school  is  held  on  the  main 
floor ;  the  infant  class  has  a  neat  room  immediately  above  the  read- 
ing room,  and  it  looks  directly  into  the  body  of  the  cliapeL  Swing- 
ing doors  are  so  arranged  that  the  gallery  can  be  closed,  and  all 
sound  kept  away  from  the  auditorium  if  necessary. 

There  is  a  ladies'  industrial  school  attached  to  the  mission,  which 
meets  every  Wednesday  and  Saturday.  The  object  is  to  instruct 
girls  in  needle  work.  The  end  and  scope  of  the  society  is  to  aid  as 
far  as  possible  the  good  and  deserving,  and  with  this  view  the  ladies 
cut  out  clothing  and  prepare  it  for  distribution.  In  certain  cases 
garmentii  are  presented  to  attendants  at  tlie  school.  Every  eftbrt  is 
made  to  inspire  habits  of  industry  and  thrift  among  the  young  peo- 
ple. 

Dr.  Hastings  has  a  tall,  thin  figure.  His  head  is  of  the 
average  size,  with  regular  and  delicate  features.  His  complexion 
is  pale,  and  the  expression  cf  his  face  is  one  which  bespeaks  great 
amiability  of  character.  He  has  much  warmth  and  joolish  of  man- 
ners, and  his  address  is  affa^ble  and  cheerful.  All  admire  and  respect 
him,  and  those  who  know  him  in  intimate  personal  relations  as 
pastor  and  friend  cherish  him  as  one  of  the  truest  of  men. 

Dr.  Hastings  is  a  scholarly  and  eloquent  preacher.  He  is  clear, 
vigorous  and  stable  in  his  style  of  thought,  and  shows  thorough  in- 
formation in  the  whole  range  of  theological  and  literary  culture. 
More  than  this  he  is  a  deeply  pious  man,  and  his  sermons  are  per- 
vaded by  an  impressive  religious  tone.  He  received  his  degree  of 
D.  D.  from  the  New  York  University  in  1866.  He  holds  a  position 
among  the  ablest  men  of  his  denomination,  and  his  spiritual  and 
practical  success  in  the  ministry,  especially  in  his  present  pastorate, 

has  not  been  exceeded  by  any  pastor  of  his  times. 

26.3 


KEY.  ISAAC  T.  IIECKKR, 

I» AGISTOR     OF"    THE    CHXJUCH    of   ST.    I»A-XJL   THE 
APOSTLE,    (CA.TH:iJ>ETe,)    IVEW    YOItlt. 


lEV.  ISAAC  T.  HBOKEE  was  born  in  New  York,  in 
December,  1819.  He  received  his  education  in  this  citj, 
and  entered  into  business  with  his  brothers  in  the  large 
milling  and  baking  establishment  of  Heckcr  Brothers. 
Two  of  these  brothers  still  carry  on  this  business  with  great  suc- 
cess ;  and  one  of  them,  John  Hecker,  is  noted  as  a  religious  man, 
philanthropist,  and  a  writer  on  education  and  phrenology,  and  for 
maintaining  a  church  of  the  Episcopal  faith  at  his  own  expense. 

Father  Hecker  passed  the  summer  of  1843,  with  the  Association 
for  Aginculture  and  Education,  at  Brook  Farm,  AVest  Roxbury,  Mass., 
and  subsequently  spent  some  time  at  a  similar  institution  in  Worces- 
ter Co.,  Mass.  In  1845,  he  returned  to  New  York,  and  become  con- 
verted to,  and  received  into,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  He  deter- 
mined on  entering  the  congregation  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer,  and 
after  making  his  novitiate  at  St.  Trond,  in  Belgium,  was  admitted 
to  the  order  in  1847.  On  the  completion  of  his  ecclesiastical  studies, 
he  was  sent  by  his  superiors  to  England,  where  he  was  ordained  priest 
by  the  late  Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  1849.  He  passed  two  years  in 
England,  engaged  in  missionary  work.  In  1851,  he  returned  to  the 
United  States,  with  several  members  of  his  order.  During  the  next 
seven  years  he  was  constantly  employed  in  missionary  labor  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  United  States.  His  talents  and  enthusiasm  in  his 
work  were  of  that  degree  which  produced  great  results  for  his  church, 
and  he  quickly  rose  to  a  high  reputation  in  its  priesthood. 

He  soon  prepared  for  even  a  more  extended  field  of  organized 
missionary  effort.  In  1857,  having  visited  Rome,  Father  Hecker 
with  some  of  his  colleagues  were  released  by  the  Pope  from  their 
connection  with  the  Rederationists,  and  in  1858  he  founded,  with  his 
companions,  a  new  missionary  society  under  the  name  of  the  congre- 
gation of  St.  Paul  the  Apostle,  whose  church  and  monaster}/  are  on 

364 


REV.     ISAAC     T.      HECKER. 

the  corner  of  Ninth  avenue  and  Fifty-ninth  street.  The  parish  is 
large  and  gTowing.  There  are  different  religious  and  charitable 
societies,  a  Sunday  school  of  more  than  twelve  hundred  pupils,  and 
two  libraries,  of  over  two  thousand  volumes. 

Father  Hecker  published  in  1855,  "  Questions  of  the  Soul,"  and 
in  1857,  "  Aspirations  of  Nature."  While  in  Eome,  he  published 
two  papers  on  Catholicity  in  the  United  States,  which  were  translated 
into  several  languages,  and  extensively  read  in  Europe  and  America. 
He  originated  the  Catholic  World^  of  New  York,  a  monthly  magazine 
devoted  to  the  interest  of  the  Catholic  Church.  He  is  also  well  known 
as  an  able  and  eloquent  lecturer  on  religious  and  secular  subjects.  In 
his  writings  he  is  learned,  logical,  and  brilliant. 

The  personal  appearance  of  Father  Hecker  is  that  of  a  man  capa- 
ble of  great  and  persevering  effort  of  both  the  mental  and  bodily  pow- 
ers. Such  have  been  his  characteristics  throughout,  and,  though  at 
this  writing  he  has  been  obliged  to  seek  succor  for  failing  health,  in 
European  travel,  still  it  is  not  thought  that  his  rare  powers  for  severe 
duty  are  seriously  impaired.  He  has  a  round  and  compact  figure. 
His  head  is  large,  with  well  cut  features.  The  brow  is  broad  and 
finely  rounded,  showing  at  once  excellent  form  and  striking  intel- 
lectuality. The  whole  expression  of  the  face  is  particularly  cheerful 
and  pleasing.  It  betokens  an  eager,  penetrating  mind,  and  the  noble, 
kindly  heart. 

Father  Hecker  enjoys  an  extensive  popularity  as  an  effective, 
popular  speaker.  Few  men  can  exercise  more  control  over  an  aud- 
ience. He  speaks  with  ease  of  utterance,  in  choice  and  vigorous 
language,  and  with  modulations  of  voice  and  appropriateness  of  ges- 
tures, which  do  much  to  give  force  and  impressiveness  to  his  oratory. 

He  is  a  benevolent  and  truly  pious  man.  Religion  is  to  him  the 
aspiration  and  life  of  the  soul.  Devoted  and  earnest  in  preaching  his 
particular  faith,  he  exhibits  in  every  step  that  he  takes  in  the  path 
of  daily  duty,  and  in  every  word  that  falls  from  his  lips,  that  he  pro- 
claims only  that  which  is  the  rock  of  his  own  earthy  comfort  and 
heavenly  hope. 


REY.  GEOPtGE  H.  HEPWORTH, 

PABT'OK    OF    THE    CHUKCM!   OF    THE    DISCIPEES, 
IVETV     YOrtKl. 


EY.  GEOEGE  H.  HEPWOETH  was  bom  in  the  city  of 
Boston,  Febuary  4tli,  1833.  He  is  of  French  descent,  on 
his  mother's  side,  and  some  of  his  ancestors  met  the  fate 
of  the  popular  leaders  in  the  French  Eevolution.  Two 
of  them  were  guillotined  in  Paris  during  Eobespierre's  "  Eeign 
^  of  Terror."  "  If  it  is  true,"  sajs  another,  "  that  one's  life-work  is 
ever  decided  before  we  are  born,  the  law  applies  to  the  case  of  Mr. 
Hepworth.  It  was  the  earnest  wish  of  the  mother  than  one  of  her 
clnldren  should  be  a  preacher.  She  was  in  many  respects  a  remark- 
able women,  and  would  often  ride  a  dozen  miles  of  a  cold  wintei's 
night  to  hear  some  distinguished  and  eloquent  minister.  She  gave 
the  preacher's  temperament  to  her  son.  In  his  earliest  influences  al- 
almost  before  he  could  speak  plainly,  he  would  mount  his  little  chair 
for  a  pulpit  and  deliver  a  boyish  sermon.  He  never  experienced 
that  doubt  as  to  what  his  profession  should  be  which  characterizes  so 
many.  From  childhood  he  entertained  the  single  purpose  of  becom- 
ing a  preacher." 

After  concluding  studies  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  he  was 
graduated  at  the  Harvard  Divinity  School  in  1853.  He  was  first 
settled  over  the  Unitarian  Church  in  Nantucket,  Massachusetts,  for 
about  two  years,  and  then  returned  to  Cambridge,  where  he  studied 
for  several  months  as  a  resident  graduate.  In  December,  1857,  he  was 
called  to  the  temporary  care  of  the  Church  of  the  Unity,  then  a  newly 
organized  Unitarian  congregation  of  Boston.  At  that  time  he  was 
not  quite  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He  was  engaged  to  supply  the 
pulpit  for  six  months,  from  December  1st,  1857,  aud  on  the  l-ith  of 
March  following  received  a  unanimous  call  to  the  pastorate,  which  he 
accepted.  His  pastorship  was  of  the  most  efficient  and  successful 
character,  and  his  congregation  became  one  of  the  most  prominent 
and  wealthy  of  Boston.  ogg 


REV.     GEORGE     H.     HEPWORTH. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  Mr.  Hepworth  exerted  himself  in  the 
pulpit  and  lyceum,  and  through  the  press,  in  behalf  of  tlie  govern- 
ment In  1862  he  joined  General  Banks'  command  in  Louisiana,  as 
an  army  chaplain,  and  I'emained  in  the  South  for  a  long  period.  He 
was  soon  appointed  to  a  place  on  the  General's  staff,  with  the  super- 
vision of  the  free  labor  system  of  Louisiana.  In  this  capacity  he 
performed  very  valuable  services  to  the  country.  Upon  his  return, 
he  embodied  his  experience  in  a  book  entitled  ''  The  Whip,  Hoe,  and 
Sword.''  He  also  delivered  a  number  of  lectures  throughout  the 
country,  particularly  during  the  Presidential  election  of  1864. 
While  in  Boston  he  originated  the  system  of  Sabbath  evening  dis- 
courses in  one  of  the  principal  theatres,  whicli  has  since  spread  to 
other  cities  of  the  L^nion.  He  is  also  entitled  to  the  credit  of  having 
by  his  own  personal  exertions  established  the  Boston  School  for  the 
Ministry,  which  consists  of  four  leased  brick  houses  on  East  Dedham 
street,  where  in  the  second  year  nearly  forty  students  entered  upon 
the  course  of  study. 

On  Sunday,  May  16th,  1869,  Mr.  Hepworth  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion of  his  Boston  pastorship,  having  accepted  a  call  to  the  Church 
of  the  Messiah,  New  York  city,  formerly  under  the  care  of  the  Eev. 
Dr.  Samuel  Osgood.  His  first  sermon  was  preached  befoi-e  a  large 
congregation  on  the  morning  of  Sunday,  June  13th,  1869.  His  salary 
was  twelve  thousand  dollars. 

He  preached  with  his  usual  success,  until  the  winter  of  1872. 
Unexpectedly  to  the  congregation,  one  Sunday  he  announced  that 
he  intended,  after  serious  and  mature  deliberation,  to  secede  from  all 
connection  with  the  Unitarian  church,  having  changed  his  religious 
views.  The  matter  produced  gi'eat  excitement  in  the  whole  Unitarian 
organization  of  the  country,  and  indeed,  in  all  sects. 

He  was  soon  after  received  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church,  and  interesting  services  held  at  Eev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  church  in  Brooklyn.  Eegular  Sunday  services  were  com- 
menced by  Mr.  Hepworth  in  Steinway  Hall,  which  were  largely 
attended.  A  new  congregation  was  organized,  under  the  name  of 
the  Church  of  the  Disciples,  and  a  large  amount  of  money  was  sub- 
scribed to  build  a  church  edifice.  This  structure  was  erected  chiefly 
of  iron,  on  the  corner  of  Madison  avenue  and  Thirty-fifth  street,  and 
dedicated  in  the  "spring  of  1873. 

An  Ecclesiastical  Council  convened  at  the  request  of  the  Church 

of  the  Disciples,  at  the  Brick  Church,  New  York,  on  the  afternoon  of 

367 


REV.      GEOEGE     H,     HEPWORTH. 

December  5tli,  1872,  in  the  words  of  the  invitation  "to  consider  our 
covenant  articles  of  faith  and  church  rules,  and  if  deemed  advisable 
to  recognize  us  as  a  church  of  Christ ;  also  to  examine  the  pastor  of 
the  church  and  to  assist  in  his  installation  if  found  worthy  of  jour 
fellowship  in  the  Gospel."  Twenty-seven  pastors  and  lay  delegates, 
of  different  churches  and  all  the  evangelical  denominations,  composed 
the  council.  Mr.  Hepworth  appeared  before  them  and  was  examined 
at  great  length  and  with  great  severity.  His  orthodoxy  being  by 
the  result  made  apparent,  the  unanimous  vote  was  that  he  be  in- 
stalled, as  he  had  requested,  and  heartily  welcomed  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  churches  as  a  Christian  man  and  a  minister  taught  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  led  by  His  spirit. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Mr.  Hepworth  was  duly  installed 
before  a  large  congregation.  The  services  were  conducted  by  various 
distinguished  clergymen,  the  Eev.  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs,  of  Brooklyn, 
preaching  a  most  eloquent  sermon. 

Mr.  Hepworth  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  equally  proportioned. 
His  figure  is  erect  and  graceful,  and  he  shows  much  activity  in  all 
his  movements.  His  head  is  large,  having  a  somewhat  square  face, 
with  handsome,  intellectual  features.  His  expression  is  one  of  great 
amiability,  and  wins  you  in  a  moment.  There  is  much  calmness  and 
thoughtful ness  about  his  face,  but  the  peculiarity  which  is  most  no- 
ticeable is  its  constant  glow  of  bright  intelligence,  which  ever  and 
anon  gathers  into  a  soft,  unconscious  smile.  In  conversation  and  in 
public  si)eaking,  3-ou  see  these  rays  of  sunny  light  stealing  over  his 
countenance,  giving  it  an  unusual  fascination.  His  manners  are 
altogether  plain  and  unassuming.  He  is  warm  and  genial  with  all 
persons,  and  withal  so  cheerful  and  entertaining  that  there  are  few 
who  can  claim  more  general  popularity  with  all  ages  and  conditions. 

Mr.  Hepworth  is  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  effective  preachers 
of  the  day.  He  is  not  of  the  noisy,  sensational  order,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  is  the  very  reverse  of  it.  He  often  preaches  without  writ- 
ing out  bis  sermons.  He  gives  them,  however,  deep  and  searching 
thought,  and  what  he  says  in  the  pulpit  has  all  the  vigor  of  expres- 
sion which  could  be  obtained  by  writing  it,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
freshness  and  fervor  of  an  extemporaneous  discourse.  He  puts  him- 
self on  the  closest  footing  with  his  hearers.  A  great  deal  is  said  in 
almost  a  conversational  manner.  There  is  no  restraint  and  no  form- 
ality. He  stands  with  one  arm  thrown  over  a  corner  of  the  book- 
board,  or  he  leans  entirely  over  it  himself,  and  then,  in  a  fnendly, ' 

203 


EEV.      GEORGE     H.      HEPWORTH 

social,  matter-of-fact  style,  he  talks  more  than  he  can  be  said  to  preach. 
Then,  from  time  to  time,  he  gives  way  to  a  degree  of  animation  which 
leads  to  a  few  expressive  gestures,  but  nothing  more.  His  thoughts 
are  most  simple  in  their  expression,  but  they  are  of  the  highest  effec- 
tiveness. His  language  is  clear,  chaste,  and  scholarly,  and  his  argu- 
ments are  logical,  and  additionally  sustained  by  apt  and  forcible 
similes  and  other  illustrations.  His  opinions  are  always  manh^,  just, 
and  Christian,  and  his  kindly,  beaming  face  is  fullj^  expressive  of  the 
sincerity  and  truth  which  go  with  them  and  are  inseparable  from  his 
character.  You  are  led  along  with  him  by  inliuences  which  come 
upon  you  as  the  silent  vapors  steal  over  the  earth.  Chains,  which 
are  no  more  to  be  broken  than  iron,  clasp  about  you,  but  they  have 
fallen  upon  you  as  softly  as  if  they  were  gossamer  threals.  It  is  the 
persuasion  of  reason  and  truth  which  arrests  the  mind,  and  it  is  the 
loving  tenderness  of  humanity  and  brotherhood  which  melts,  subdues, 
and  wins  your  heart.  It  is  not  the  fascination  of  eloquence,  nor  is  it 
the  power  of  learning,  but  it  is  that  magnetic  charm  whiQh  is  to  be 
found  in  words  of  moral  and  religious  truths  when  fitly  spoken. 
Some  speak  with  a  force  and  thunder  which  startle,  and  some  with  a 
beauty  and  eloquence  which  dazzle.  Mr.  Hepworth  does  neither  of 
these.  He  is  simple  in  matter  and  manner;  he  is  moderate  and 
gentle  always.  But  it  is  this  simplicity  and  moderation  which  are 
so  attractive.  You  are  not  caiTied  away  by  brilliant  oratory,  but 
you  feel  refreshed  in  soul.  You  saj^  here  is  a  good  man  to  whom  it 
is  pleasant  to  listen,  and  whom  it  will  be  wisdom  to  make  an  exam- 
ple. You  are  withdrawn  from  the  baser  part  of  nature  which  may 
be  in  you,  and  rise  to  a  nearer  alliance  with  principle  and  love  to 
mankind. 

Mr.  Hepworth  has  abilities  of  various  kinds  which  eminently  fit 
him  for  a  success  in  the  ministry  equal  to  any  minister  of  his  time. 
He  is  a  thinker  and  worker.  His  heart  is  in  his  labors,  and  his 
young  energies  are  all  enlisted  for  a  life-time  of  faithful,  unselfish 
service  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  religion.  Simple  and  unostentatious, 
and  yet  effective  in  the  pulpit,  and  zealous  and  loving  in  his  duties 
out  of  it,  he  must  go  forward  to  triumphs  still  greater  than  those 
which  have  already  made  his  career  so  marked  by  practical  useful- 
ness. 

269 


PiEY.  J.  STANFORD  HOLME,  D.  D., 

I»A.©TOR,     OF    THE     TRllVITY     I5A.I»T1©T     CHURCH, 


EV.  DR.  J.  STANFORD  HOLME  was  bom  in  a  section 
formerly  known  as  Holmesbui'g,  and  now  a  part  of  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  Marcli  4th,  1822.  His  ancestors 
.,)-^^^^  came  to  America  from  England  in  1683,  and  purchased 
^^  their  lands  of  William  Penn.  John  Holme,  a  prominent  mem- 
'--^  ber  of  the  family,  was  an  early  magistrate  under  Penn,  but  re- 
tired from  his  position  by  reason  of  what  he  deemed  to  be  intolerance 
on  the  part  of  his  Quaker  associates.  Another  ancestor  was  Abel 
Morgan,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest  writers  in  defense  of  Baptist 
doctrines  in  the  colonies,  as  appears  by  a  volume  which  was  pub- 
lished by  Benjamin  Franklin  in  1747,  at  his  printing-ofi&ce  in  Market 
street.  It  thus  appears  that  the  earliest  efforts  in  planting  the  Bap- 
tist faith  in  both  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  are  due  in  a  great 
measure  to  the  ancestors  of  the  subject  of  our  notice. 

His  academic  studies  were  at  New  Hampton,  New  Hampshire, 
and  he  then  studied  law  in  Philadelphia,  but  did  not  seek  admission 
to  the  bar,  as  he  had  determined  to  prepare  for  the  ministry.  He 
was  graduated  at  Madison  University  in  1850,  and  first  settled  over 
the  Baptist  church  at  Waterloo,  New  York.  After  nearly  four  years 
of  service  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Pierrepont  street  Baptist  church, 
Brooklyn,  where  he  remained  ten  years.  He  now  devoted  two  years 
to  literary  pursuits,  and  temporarily  supplied  different  pulpits.  Dur- 
ing a  year  and  a  half  of  this  time  he  officiated  at  the  Tabernacle  Bap- 
tist church,  New  York. 

It  had  been  the  desire  of  his  life  to  found  a  new  church,  and  the 

time  and  opportunity  now  seemed  to  have  arrived.     The  necessity 

for  a  new  Baptist  church  was  felt  in  one  of  the  up-town  sections  of 

the  city,  and  in  the  spring  of  1866,  Dr.  Holme  commenced  preaching 

in  a  hall  on  the  corner  of  Third  avenue  and  Fifty-second  street.     A 

mission  of  the  Madison  avenue  Baptist  church  had  been  for  some 

270 


REV.     J.     STANFORD     HOLME,     D.  D. 

time  conducted  at  the  same  place  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Oovell.  Dr.  Holme,  however,  took  charge  of  the  enterprise,  with  a 
view  to  the  formation  of  an  independent  Baptist  church.  A  large 
congregation  was  collected  under  his  ministry  during  the  year,  and 
it  was  deemed  expedient  to  organize  a  church  without  further  delay. 
A  meeting  was  called  for  this  purpose  June  4th,  1867,  at  which  the 
church  was  duly  organized  with  seventy-five  members,  under  the 
name  of  the  Trinity  Baptist  Church  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
Dr.  Holme  was  called  as  the  first  pastor.  A  chapel  was  fitted  up  in 
the  building  where  services  were  held  for  some  time.  A  few  years 
since  the  fine  structure  of  the  Eleventh  Presbyterian  Church  in  Fifty- 
fiftli  street  was  purchased  by  the  Trinity  Congregation,  and  soon 
after  occupied  by  them. 

Dr.  Holme  is  above  the  average  height,  and  of  full  round  figure, 
while  of  active  step.  His  head  is  large  and  round,  with  marked 
evidences  of  intellect  and  character.  His  features  are  regular,  though 
outlined  with  the  same  boldness  of  the  massive  head.  You  are  par- 
ticularh^  struck  with  his  amiable,  genial-looking  face.  It  has  great 
mobility,  and  is  fully  expressive  of  his  feelings  at  all  times.  When 
in  simple  repose  it  is  aglow  with  light  from  his  luminous,  intellectual 
eyes,  and  the  natural  cheerfulness  which  pervades  it ;  but  in  anima- 
tion it  gives  instant  and  vivid  reflections  of  all  his  emotions  and 
thoughts.  Had  he  been  a  professional  actor,  he  would  have  been 
peerless  in  his  parts ;  and  as  a  teacher  and  orator  he  has  that  power 
of  effectiveness  in  the  facial  expression  which  is  electrical,  and  simul- 
taneous with  feeling,  conviction,  and  utterance.  His  brow  is  like  a 
towering  dome  to  the  rest  of  the  fine  ph3-sical  structure,  and  shows 
the  seat  of  commanding  mental  powers.  Perhaps  the  greatest  charm, 
however,  about  Dr.  Holme  consists  in  his  affable  and  fascinating 
manners.  He  is  never  without  a  dignity  becoming  a  minister  of  the 
gospel,  and  yet  his  whole  conduct  is  characterized  by  a  frank,  open 
bearing,  and  so  much  good-nature  and  courtesy,  that  all  persons 
find  themselves  on  the  most  friendly  and  genial  terms  with  him. 

With  these  elements  of  character  he  is  pre-eminently  o.  popular 
man.  Wherever  he  goes  he  carries  good  feeling ;  whoever  he  talks  to 
feels  the  warmer  and  kindlier  in  his  heart  for  it.  It  is  not,  however, 
the  element  of  "all  things  to  all  men;"  it  is  not  the  spirit  of 
demagogism,  striving  for  popularity  by  sacrifices  of  principle,  but  it 
is  in  the  fullest  sense  the  heart  of  a  good  and  kindly  man  diffusing 
its  influence  into  every  person  and  into  every  scene. 


REV.     J.     STANFORD     HOLME,     D.  D. 

People  say  they  are  bappy  in  his  church.  We  divine  this  to  be 
the  case  especially  from  the  fact  that  their  pastor  is  a  man  alive  with 
the  genuine  impulses  of  love  and  fellowship,  and  not  a  dead  fossil  of 
dignity.  He  believes  that  like  the  tendrils  of  the  water  plant  that 
shoot  forth  in  every  direction  for  the  fluid  which  gives  it  life,  so  the 
human  heart  stretches  forth  its  tendrils  of  feeling,  seeking  the  nour- 
ishment of  congenial  souls  and  sentiments.  Some  men  are  so  iron- 
clad with  professional  and  personal  dignity  that  they  are  impenetra- 
ble to  these  self-evident  pleadings  which  are  uttered  in  all  organiza- 
tions and  communities.  Other  men  are  like  the  springs  which  bub- 
ble up  to  the  thirsting  ^^lants,  and  give  to  those  with  whom  they 
come  in  contact  the  refreshment  of  love,  fi-iendship,  and  cheerfulness. 
It  is  due  to  the  exercise  of  these  characteristics  that  the  churches 
over  which  Dr.  Holme  has  been  placed  have  had  such  religious 
vitality  and  personal  concord. 

Dr.  Holme  is  one  of  the  most  popular  preachers  in  the  Baptist 
denomination.  His  sermons  are,  to  a  certain  extent,  argiimentative ; 
but  his  main  attack  is  upon  the  feelings  of  his  audience.  He  is  a 
clear,  comprehensive  writer,  taking  hold  of  any  and  every  subject 
with  sufficient  ability  to  do  it  full  justice,  and  not  only  advance  every 
plea  in  its  favor,  but  from  his  own  standpoint  demolish  every  argu- 
ment of  opposition.  There  is  scope  and  vigor  in  his  whole  range  of 
thought ;  and  yet  in  its  application  it  is  softened  by  tender  personal 
sympathies,  and  commended  by  eager  zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  im- 
peiiled  soul.  He  has  a  fine  round  voice  perfectly  under  his  control, 
and  his  manner  of  delivery  is  composed  and  effective.  He  enjoys 
natural  powers  as  a  speaker,  and  has  not  required  much  training, 
and  consequently  there  is  no  restraint  upon  him.  His  flow  of  lan- 
guage is  ready  and  ample,  and  not  less  terse  than  tasteful  in  its  se- 
lection. He  feels  every  word  that  he  utters ;  and  he  shows  it.  Not, 
however,  in  boisterous  thunderings,  and  in  the  wild  utterances  of 
sensational  eloquence,  but  in  the  countenance — beaming  with  sincerity 
— and  in  the  unmistakable  tones  of  truth  and  faith.  His  purpose  is 
not  to  exhibit  the  graces  of  oratory,  though  he  has  all  of  these,  but  it  is 
to  give  potency  to  religious  truth  by  the  aid  of  the  human  mind  and 
lips.  This  is  the  conviction  which  steals  upon  the  hearer.  His 
arguments,  his  soft  words  of  persuasion,  and  his  more  eloquent  and 
impassioned  passages  are  all  methods  of  showing  the  way  to  grace, 
and  in  no  particular  intended  for  the  vain  display  of  personal 
powers.  ^'^^ 


EEV.  GEORGE  H.  HOUGHTOiX,  B.  D., 

KECTOll    OF    THE    OUXJRCH    OF    TH-E    TTIA.1VSFIG. 
XJK^TIOIV,    (EI»ISCOI*A.L,)     ]VEW    YOKB:. 


'EV.  DR.  GEORGE  H.  HOUGHTON  was  born  at  Deer- 
iield,  Mass.,  in  February,  1820.  He  was  graduated  at  the 
New  York  University  in  1842.  and  pursued  his  theologi. 
W^^'^  cal  course  privately.  He  took  orders  in  the  autumn  of 
^^  1845,  and  after  remaining  one  year  as  assistant  to  Dr.  Muhlen- 
■^  berg,  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  in  October,  1848, 
commenced  officiating  at  a  private  house  for  a  small  number  of  per- 
sons who,  in  the  following  year,  were  organized  as  the  Church  of  the 
Transfiguration.  Soon  after  a  location  on  Twenty-ninth  street,  near 
Fifth  avenue,  was  chosen,  and,  through  the  disinterested  benevolence 
of  one  of  the  members  of  the  parish,  a  church  edifice  was  commenced, 
which  was  occupied  on  Sunday,  March  10th,  1850.  Additions  have 
been  made  to  the  building  from  time  to  time,  and  now  has  the  form 
of  an  L,  occupying  one  side  and  the  rear  of  the  property,  with  the 
rectory  on  the  other  side.  The  church  is  a  long,  low  building ;  the 
several  entrances  have  turrets  over  them  ;  in  front  is  a  small  park 
with  trees  and  flowers,  and  the  whole  has  a  verj-  picturesque  appear- 
ance. Until  May,  1854,  the  entire  pew  rents  were  used  for  reducing 
the  debt  incurred  in  purchasing  the  ground  and  building,  two  hun- 
dred dollars  being  the  largest  single  offering  made  at  one  time  by 
any  member  of  the  j^arish  for  these  purposes.  The  pews — which  are 
rented,  not  sold — are  rated  much  below  the  ordinary  avei'age,  while 
there  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  free  sittings.  These  latter  are  in  the 
chapel  part  of  the  edifice,  which  is  so  arranged  that,  by  turning  the 
seats,  it  becomes  a  portion  of  the  body  of  the  church.  During  ten 
years  Dr.  Houghton  gave  to  the  church,  of  his  earnings  in  another 
sphere  of  duty,  more  than  three  thousand  dollars,  and  during  four 
years  received  irregular  salary.  The  congregation  is  now  one  of  the 
largest  and  wealthiest  in  New  York.  Dr.  Houghton  held  the  posi- 
tion of  instructor  of  Hebrew  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  in 


REV.     GEORGE     H.     HOUGHTON,     D.  D. 

connection  with  his  rectorship,  and  finally  resigned  after  a  service  of 
twelve  years.  He  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Columbia  Col- 
lege, in  1859.     His  publications  consist  of  occasional  sermons. 

Dr.  Hougliton  and  his  church  have  received  great  prominence 
from  the  fact  of  his  having  there  performed  the  burial  service  over 
the  remains  of  a  worthy  deceased  actor,  George  Holland,  this  rite 
having  been  refused  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sabine.  Many  expressions 
of  the  public  concurrence  in  the  action  of  Dr.  Houghton  took  place, 
and  the  "  little  church  around  the  corner,"  the  language  in  which  it 
was  referred  to  by  Mr.  Sabine,  has  become  embalmed  in  the  lasting 
remembrance  of  all  truly  Christian  people. 

Dr.  Houghton  is  slightlj^  under  the  medium  height,  sparely  made, 
and  in  every  respect  of  a  delicate  organization.  He  has  a  well-de- 
veloped head,  and  a  face  of  marked  intelligence,  combined  with  an 
impressive  simplicity.  His  complexion  is  very  pale,  and  is  the  more 
observable  from  the  contrast  with  his  black  hair  and  whiskers.  He 
also  wears  a  moustache,  which  is  altogether  unusual  among  ministers. 
The  intellectuality'of  his  fine  marble-like  brow,  the  calmness,  serenity, 
and  sweetness  of 'expression,  and  his  gentle,  kindly  voice  and  man- 
ners, each  and  all 'throw  about  him  the  influence  of  a  being  extraor- 
dinarily endowed  with  manly  and  Christian  virtues.  And,  in  truth, 
he  stands  a  noble  example  to  his  fellow-men.  His  whole  life  has 
been  remarkable  for  its  uprightness  and  piety.  In  strictness  to  con- 
scientious duty  and  religious  responsibility  it  has  been  undeviating 
from  youth  up.  He  is  a.  moral  hero  in  every  sense.  Personal  sacri- 
fice, and  even  suffering,  have  never  been  considered  for  a  moment. 
The  demands  of  duty  have  ever  been  regarded  in  their  largest  scope, 
and  to  discharge  them  fully  has  been  an  aim  to  which  all  else  was 
subordinate.  The  exact  line  of  duty,  and  the  way  lighted  at  every 
step  by  an  approving  conscience,  have  been  the  only  paths  in  which 
his  feet  have  gone.  Honorable,  just,  conscientious,  and  heroic  in 
holding  to  them  all,  he  has  truly  illustrated  the  Christian  life.  We 
mean  the  Christian  life  in  distinction  from  the  morally  upright  life, 
and  the  life  which  only  seeks  perfection  in  the  greater  things,  forget- 
ful of  the  smaller,  which,  like  the  water  dropping  on  the  granite, 
slowly  but  surely  wear  away  conscience.  Nobly  perfect  in  the  great 
and  small ;  sublimely  true  to  faith  and  all  professions.  Dr.  Houghton 
belongs  to  that  measure  of  man  coming  nearest  to  God.  When  the 
little  children  look  in  his  face,  so  beaming  with  gentleness  and  good- 
ness, they  listen  and  believe.     When  the  man,  toughened  with  the 

274 


EEV.      GEORGE     H.      HOUGHTON,     D.  D. 

world's  hard  blows,  and  saddened  by  its  wrongs,  notes  him  day  by 
day^  and  year  after  year,  the  same  in  purity  of  character  and  holiness 
of  life,  he  begins  to  feel  the  awakening  of  the  sacred  inspiration 
which  lifts  the  lost  to  Heaven.  We  are  not  overstating  the  influence 
of  Dr.  Houghton.  His  ministi'ations  in  his  present  parish  were  com- 
menced with  only  six  persons  as  attendants  upon  them,  and  now  he 
has  reared  a  fine  chuj'ch,  and  drawn  about  him  a  numerous  and  de- 
voted congregation.  He  has  done  it  by  great  labor,  but  more  by  the 
fascination  of  his  character  and  the  beauty  of  his  life.  Those  out  of 
his  own  denomination  have  aided  him  because  they  saw  that  he  was 
a  Christian  hero,  and  those  of  his  immediate  flock  have  spiritedly 
upheld  him  because  amidst  earth's  temptations  he  was  upholding 
them.  As  a  man  he  is  everywhere  cherished  ;  as  a  citizen  he  is  re- 
spected by  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact ;  and  as  the  pastor  he 
is  beloved  with  an  affection  which  withstands  all  save  death. 

Dr.  Houghton  attempts  nothing  especially  brilliant  in  his  ser- 
mons. They  are  all  well  written,  but  he  seems  to  consider  it  out  of 
place  to  introduce  anything  beyond  simple,  devout,  and  instructive 
language.  Hence,  while  each  is  plain,  practical,  sincere,  and  learned 
in  divine  truths,  there  is  a  total  absence  of  floritl,  sensational,  and 
even  eloquent  passages.  As  he  declared  he  would,  he  preaches  the 
doctrines  of  his  church,  and  nothing  else.  He  is  a  very  correct  and 
impressive  reader,  and  his  rendering  of  the  service  is  very  fine.  His 
voice  is  full  and  mellow,  filling  the  whole  building. 

Dr.  Houghton  is  an  able  scholar.  His  attainments  in  the  Hebrew 
are  such  that  he  has  established  a  wide  reputation  as  a  teacher  of  it. 
The  study  of  this  language  with  him  has  been  most  enthusiastically 
pursued,  as  it  has  appealed  so  much  to  his  religious  emotions. 
While  he  has  a  great  love  for  refined  literature,  and  a  passion  for  art, 
still  he  allows  himself  but  little  respite  from  severe  application  to 
theological  investigations.  Always  lookiiig  beyond  for  something 
better  and  higher,  in  both  temporal  and  spiritual  matters,  he  never 
deems  his  work  accomplished,  and  unweariedly  presses  onward  in 
the  life-long  race. 

275 


REV.  ROBERT  S.  HOWLAND,  D.  J)., 

e^ETVIOll      HECTOR      OF      THE      OHUrtCH      OE      THE 
IIEJ\.VEIVEY    HEST    (EPISCOPAL),     ]VET\^    YOllIt. 


'EV.  DR.  ROBEET  S.  ROWLAND  was  born  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  November  9th,  1820.  He  spent  some  time 
at  a  French  school,  and  at  length  entered  St.  Paul's  Col- 
W^^'^  lege,  Long  Island,  where  he  was  graduated  about  18-10.  He 
was  next  engaged,  with  Bishop  Kerfoot,  now  bishop  of  Western 
"^  Pennsylvania,  in  organizing  St.  James'  College,  in  Maryland,  in 
which  State  he  remained  a  period  of  eight  months.  He  then  went 
abroad,  traveling  in  Europe  and  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  returned 
after  an  absence  of  eighteen  months.  He  had  before  taken  a  partial 
theological  course  at  the  General  Episcopal  Seminary.  New  York. 
He  now  returned  to  that  institution  and  completed  his  studies,  and  was 
graduated  in  1845.  During  the  same  year  he  was  made  a  deacon  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  in  New  Haven,  by  Bishop  Brownell,  and  priest 
in  the  following  year,  at  St.  Luke's  Church,  New  York,  by  Bishop 
Ives,  then  of  North  Carolina,  and  later  a  priest  of  the  Catholic  church. 
For  some  time  he  was  the  assistant  of  Rev.  Dr.  Forbes,  at  St.  lAike's 
church,  and  in  1847  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  the  H(/ly  Apostles. 
He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Columbia  College,  in  1863.  He 
has  recently  made  another  extended  tour  in  Europe. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Apostles  was  the  development  of  a 
Sunday  school,  which  was  held  in  an  upper  room  in  Twenty-seventh 
street.  Religious  services  were  at  length  commenced,  and  when  Dr. 
Howland  took  charge  there  were  twenty  communicants.  A  donation 
of  five  lots,  on  the  corner  of  Ninth  avenue  and  Twenty -eighth  street, 
was  made  to  the  church  by  Robert  Ray,  Esq.,  and  hei-e  a  church 
edifice  was  erected,  which  was  consecrated  in  February,  1847. 

The  growth  of  the  congregation  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  Howland 
was  very  remarkable.  The  eminent  ability  of  the  rector  and  the 
harmony  always  existing  in  the  parish  were  attractions  which  pro- 
duced their  legitimate  truits.     In  1867  the  congregation  had  four 

lv7(J 


REV.      ROBERT     S.      HOWL  AND,      D.  D. 

hundred  communicants,  four  hundred  families,  and  four  hundred  and 
fifty  children  in  tlie  Sunday  school. 

On  the  18t.h  of  Maj,  1868,  a  parish  under  the  name  of  the  Onui-ch 
of  the  Heavenly  Rest  was  organized,  of  -which  Dr.  Howland  is  now 
the  senior  rector.  The  church  edifice  is  located  on  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  portions  of  Fifth  avenue.  Dr.  Howland,  at  the  time  of 
the  erection  of  the  church,  carried  out  a  plan  of  building  several 
residences  adjoining,  making  all  the  structures  harmonious  in  design, 
and  very  imposing  and  elegant  in  appearance. 

The  church  has  an  entrance  on  Fifth  avenue,  and  will  seat  about 
one  thousand  people.  Its  design  throughout  is  elaborate  and  costly. 
The  pe\vs  and  others  fittings  are  of  solid  wood,  and  the  carvings  of 
the  chancel  are  especially  admired.  All  the  pillars  are  of  polished 
variegated  marble.  It  was  opened  for  public  service  in  February, 
1869.  The  congregation  is  now  large  and  influential.  Here,  as 
elsewhere,  Di-.  Howland  is  doing  an  earnest  work  for  the  upholding 
of  his  faith,  and  the  regeneration  of  his  fellow-men.  His  able  asso- 
ciate is  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  K.  Conrad. 

Dr.  Howland  is  of  the  medium  height,  well  proportioned,  and  of 
an  easy,  graceful  carriage.  He  has  a  round  head,  not  large,  but  of 
excellent  proportions,  regular  features,  and  soft,  bright  eyes.  His 
manners  are  dignified,  but  characterized  by  so  much  courtesy  that 
intercourse  with  him  is  always  agreeable.  He  is  what  maybe  called 
a  self-possessed  man — not  one  to  bluster  and  make  a  noise  about  any- 
thing he  does,  or  one  devoid  of  modesty  and  a  nice  sense  of  jDro- 
priety.  Neither  is  he  a  man  of  assumption,  nor  of  any  personal 
conceit.  And  still  he  is  a  person  of  invariable  self-possession.  You 
are  struck  with  it  as  a  leading  characteristic  in  him.  But  it  is  the 
self-possession  of  a  man  of  intelligence  and  ability,  who  has  all  his 
powers  under  the  most  perfect  control,  and  knows  exactly  how  and 
when  to  utter  every  word  and  perform  every  act.  He  is  never  excited, 
and  he  is  never  in  doubt.  He  is  always  composed,  and  acts  under- 
standingly  and  properly  on  all  occasions.  His  self-reliance  and  self- 
possession  appear  at  a  glance  ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  seen 
that  these  are  qualities  natural  to  the  man,  and  not  assumed  either  to 
attract  attention  or  to  gain  undue  prominence  for  the  individual.  He 
is  a  kind-hearted  man,  full  of  manly  and  noble  sympathies,  and  alive 
with  energy  in  his  Christian  labors.  He  makes  no  distinction  in  his 
intercourse  with  men,  except  that  of  the  moral  character.  The  humble 

and  the  sorrowing  are  regarded  with  most  touching  kindness  ;  and  it 

277 


REV.     ROBERT     S.      HOWLAND,     D,  D, 

lias  been  bis  great  effort  to  make  snob  persons  in  bis  parisbes  tbe  object 
of  constant  Christian  care.  He  is  also  a  person  exerting  tbe  bappiest 
influence  witb  cbildren.  His  manners  witb  tbeni  are  winning  in  tbe 
extreme,  and  he  is  alike  successful  in  imparting  to  tbem  instruction 
and  in  preserving  tbeir  lasting  love. 

He  preaches  witb  a  great  deal  of  power.  He  is  not  lacking  in 
tbose  acquirements  of  scbolarsbip  wbicb  give  value  and  interest  to 
literary  productions  ;  but  tbe  striking  features  in  bis  sermons  are  tbeir 
deptb  and  force  of  religious  appeal,  and  evidence  of  tbe  earnest  con- 
victions of  the  writer.  As  be  writes,  his  language  naturally  takes 
tbose  forms  of  expression  wbicb  are  tbe  most  euphonious  to  tbe  ear 
and  positive  in  tbeir  effect  upon  tbe  mind.  Tbis  is  fully  apparent, 
and  tbe  listener  cannot  fail  to  receive  great  deligbt  from  bis  sermons 
as  learned  and  literary  efforts.  But  the  seeker  after  the  breid  of 
Heaven  will  find  something  of  far  more  value.  A  boly  inspiration, 
a  firm  reliance  on  tbe  promises  of  faith,  and  a  prayerful  interest  in 
all  inquiring  souls,  are  features  wbicb  are  equally  apparent,  and 
wbicb  give  the  greatest  impressiveness  to  all  these  discourses.  None 
can  bear  bim  witbout  profit.  There  is  tbat  in  bis  matter  and  manner 
wbicb  makes  an  irresistible  appeal  to  tbe  mind  and  beart.  His  voice 
is  gentle,  and  his  wbole  delivery  is  cbaracterized  by  tbat  dignity  and 
propi'iety,  and  at  the  same  time  self-possession,  wbicb  is  peculiar  to 
bim  on  cftber  occasions. 

Dr.  Howland  ranks  witb  tbe  most  eminent  of  tbe  Episcopal 
clergy.  His  abilities  are  of  tbe  first  class,  and  be  bas  built  up 
powerful  parisbes.  His  reputation  rests  on  nothing  epbemeral,  but 
on  qualifications  and  works  of  tbe  most  substantial  character.  He  is 
popular  among  his  brethren  as  a  talented,  good,  and  energetic  man 
of  God ;  and  witb  bis  people  be  is  always  held  in  the  most  sincere 

regard. 

278 


KEY.  WAYLAND  HOYT, 

r»A.BTOIl     OF    THE     TABEIHIV^CLE:     BA.PTIBT 
CHURCH,     ?<fE\^    YOKKl. 


lt£/ 


11^' EV.  WAYLAND  HOYT  was  born  in  the  city  of  Cleve- 
land, Oliio,  February  ISth,  1838.  His  early  studies  were 
pursued  in  the  vicinity  of  his  native  city.  He  was 
graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1860,  and  at  the 
Rochester  Theological  Seminary  in  1863.  He  was  ordained 
and  settled  for  a  year  over  the  Baptist  church  at  Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts,  and  then  passed  three  years  with  the  Ninth  street 
Baptist  church,  Cincinnati.  In  November,  1867,  he  was  installed  as 
the  pastor  of  the  Strong  Place  Baptist  church,  Brooklyn,  where  he 
remained  until  the  spring  of  1873.  He  accomplished  a  most  efficient 
work,  and  the  congregation  parted  with  him  greatly  to  their  regret, 
but  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  accept  a  call  to  the  Tabernacle 
church  in  New  York,  where  he  is  now  laboring  with  his  usual 
saccess.  Previouslj^  a  strong  effort  was  made  to  induce  him  to 
accept  a  call  in  Boston,  but  this  he  declined. 

The  Tabernacle  church  is  one  of  the  old  Baptist  organizations  of 
New  York,  having  formerly  worshiped  in  Mulberry  street.  Their 
present  church  edifice  on  Second  avenue  was  dedicated  September 
22d,  1850.  There  are  about  seven  hundred  members,  and  about 
eight  hundred  children  in  the  different  Sunday  Schools. 

Mr.  Hoyt  is  under  the  average  height,  and  of  a  well-proportioned, 
round,  solid  person.  His  head  is  nearly  round,  with  narrow  chin, 
but  with  considerable  breadth  in  the  upper  portion.  The  brow  is 
prominent  and  handsome,  and  all  the  lower  features  are  uniform  and 
expressive.  His  eyes  are  small,  but  have  much  penetration,  and  a 
clear,  honest  gaze.  His  manners  are  frank  and  sincere,  and  have  a 
propriety  and  confidence  which  is  not  always  seen  in  a  young  man. 
He  seems  to  be  somewhat  impulsive,  and  there  is  always  a  quickness 
of  action  about  him ;  but  intimacy  with  him  shows  that  he  is  really 
a  very  cool  reflective  person,  and  that  the  body  acts  quick  because 

279 


EEV.      WAYLAND     HOYT. 

the  brain  is  sudden  and  electrical  in  its  action.  His  conclusions  and 
determination  are  rapid,  and  to  the  point,  in  great  matters  and  small. 
His  warmth  and  frankness  does  not  proceed  from  mere  force  of 
nabit,  but  is  the  genuine  expression  of  true,  earnest  feelings  of 
courtesy  and  good  will. 

Mr.  Hoyt  is  a  preacher  who  soon  wins  the  favor  of  his  audience. 
His  style  of  speech  and  manners  is  natural  and  eai-nest,  but  above 
all,  he  shows  that  he  means  and  feels  all  that  he  says.  He  is  terse 
and  graphic  while  fluent.  Although  he  is  voluble,  each  word  has 
its  point  and  each  sentence  is  round  and  complete.  He  reduces 
language  to  its  most  forcible  phrases  and  mode  of  construction,  and 
still  his  thoughts  are  rapid  and  redundant,  and  their  expression  is 
equally  so.  He  feels  warmly,  and  this  gives  a  glow  and  animation 
to  his  face  and  tone,  and  lifts  him  into  flights  of  commanding  and 
impassioned  eloquence.  His  temperament  is  genial  and  sanguine, 
and  his  sermons  bear  witness  of  this  condition  in  every  line.  He 
does  not  stand  aloof  from  you,  but,  on  the  contrary,  assails  your 
heart  on  the  instant.  He  is  full  of  wai-mth,  love,  friendship,  and 
brotherhood.  They  brea;he  forth  in  every  word ;  they  beam  in  every 
glance,  and  they  are  expressed  in  every  action.  These  traits  in 
yourself  he  will  ap^^eal  to,  and  bring  them  into  action  and  harmony 
with  his  own  feelings.  His  words  ring  in  upon  the  mental  convic- 
tions, and  they  light  up  the  heart.  They  point  the  way  to  a  new 
spiritual  existence,  but  at  the  same  time  they  quicken  impulses 
which  are  calculated  to  make  the  temporal  life  nobler  and  more  use- 
ful. Manhood  and  womanhood  are  developed  into  a  higher  perfec- 
tion and  principle,  and,  especially,  religious  inspirations  are  kindled 
with  fresh  fires  of  devotion.  He  is  sanguine  of  the  future,  and  he 
fills  his  hearers  with  a  like  enthusiasm,  and  the  same  cheerful  con- 
fidence. Some  men  have  electrical  influences  in  their  words  and 
manners,  and  Mr.  Hoyt  is  such  a  person.  The  mind  of  the  hearer 
makes  no  quibbling  or  questioning  about  reciprocating  his  genial 
advances  to  the  heart,  for  the  heart  itself  makes  its  instantaneous  re- 
sponse. You  at  once  accept  him  as  a  man  of  conscientious  truthful- 
ness, as  a  counselor  who  regards  your  welfare  from  a  standpoint  of 
friendship,  and  as  a  spiritual  leader,  who,  though  sanguine  and  eager, 
is  brave  and  devoted  in  the  interest  of  the  meanest  follower. 

Mr.  Hoyt  is  still  young.  But  no  one  thinks  of  this  when  be 
preaches.  The  oldest  man  or  woman,  strong  as  they  may  be  in  their 
faith  and  in  the  wisdom  of  gathered  years,  may  well  pause  and  con- 

280 


S  E  V.     W  A  Y  L  A  N  D     H  O  Y  T. 

sider  the  teachings  which  he  utters  in  the  sacred  desk.  If  they  are 
unaffected  by  his  youthful  enthusiasm  and  his  ardent  hopefulness, 
tliey  cannot  refuse  attention  to  his  learned  exposition  of  doctrines 
and  the  logic  and  force  of  the  arguments  which  are  so  large  a  portion 
of  his  discourse.  Reason  and  profundity  are  none  the  less  so  because 
they  may  be  spoken  by  youthful  lips.  In  fact,  when  they  are  thus 
spoken  they  generally  become  additionally  impressive  and  potent. 
But  with  those  of  his  own  yeai's  Mr.  Hoyt  may  well  claim  unlimited 
influence.  He  knows  the  weaknesses  and  the  aspirations  of  the 
young  heart,  and  he  touches  it  as  if  with  the  wand  of  an  enchanter. 
His  countenance  becomes  its  magic  of  human  perfection,  his  words 
are  its  treasured  truths,  and  his  steps  are  its  chosen  wity.  It  responds 
fully  and  earnestly  to  his  own  emotions,  and  it  gives  him  the  sole 
and  complete  control  of  its  spiritual  aspirations. 

Thus  it  is  to  be  seen  that  Mr.  Hoyt  is  in  a  position  to  do  a  great 
work.  Powerful  as  is  his  present  congregation  in  influence  and 
Christian  zeal,  he  is  quite  certain  to  give  it  still  greater  power  and 
usefnlness.  He  is  drawing  his  people  near  to  himself  with  singular 
fascination,  and  he  is  showing  a  strength  of  intellect  and  a  phj'sical 
energy  which  will  produce  great  results  in  the  field  of  effort  which 
is  so  dear  to  both.  Hopeful,  courageous,  and  indomitable,  be  will 
best  deserve  success  by  a  life  and  toil  which  will  render  him  worthy 
of  such  a  reward. 

Such  is  the  character  and  talents  of  Mr.  Hoyt.  Strong  in  his 
natural  powers,  comprehensive  and  profound  in  his  acquirements, 
ardent  and  ambitious  in  his  professional  application,  he  is  on  the 
threshold  of  a  great  future.  His  field  of  effort  is  vast,  and  offers 
every  incentive  to  the  exercise  of  all  his  powers  and  capacity,  and  he 
is  a  man  so  eager  for  the  discharge  of  every  duty,  and  filled  with  so 
much  religious  ardor  that  he  will  neither  falter  in  going  forward  to 
every  task  of  difficulty,  nor  gi'ow  lukewarm  by  success.  He  is  a 
chief  reliance  of  the  church  in  her  struggle  against  evil,  and  he  will 
be  not  less  the  friend  and  guide  of  those  seeking  the  knowledge  of  a 
purer  life.  His  ]?resent  advancement  in  his  profession  and  denomina- 
tion, and  his  crowning  and  brilliant  honors,  have  not  made  him 
exultant  or  vain,  but  simply  incited  him  to  new  vigor,  and  strength- 
ened him  in  self-reliance.  The  full  scope  of  liis  intellect  and  the  en- 
tire sympathies  of  his  heart  will  go  with  his  work,  which  will  always 

be  measured  by  a  tireless  zeal. 

281 


KEY.  ADOLPHUS  HIIEBSCII,  PH.  1)., 

KA^BBI      OF      THE      Ct>]VOIlEGA.TIO]V      AH:A.VA.TH 
CHESEO,    IVEAIV    YORIi:. 


EY.  DR  ADOLPHUS  HUEBSCH  was  born  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  Hungary,  September  18th,  1830.  His  early 
studies  were  in  different  Talmudical  schools.  At  fourteen 
he  could  read  and  write  only  in  the  Hebrew ;  but  later  he 
^pi  became  engaged  in  other  stutiies,  especially  the  Syriac,  Arabic, 
3  and  other  Oriental  languages.  He  attended  the  Gymnasium  at 
Pesth  for  some  time.  Hp  received  his  authorization  as  a  rabbi  at 
twenty,  and  four  years  later  entered  upon  his  first  office  in  an  ortho- 
dox congregation  in  Hungary,  where  he  remained  about  three  years. 
In  1856  he  entered  the  University  in  Prague,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1859,  and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy.  He 
was  at  once  invited  to  accept  the  position  of  rabbi  and  preacher  of 
an  ancient  and  influential  congregation  in  Prague,  where  he  contin- 
ued until  called  to  his  present  congregation  in  New  York,  in  1866. 
He  commenced  bis  labors  on  the  26th  of  August  of  that  year.  It 
was  regarded  as  no  small  tribute  to  his  i-eputation  for  so  young  a 
man  to  be  called  to  the  powerful  congregation  in  Prague :  and  his 
invitation  to  come  to  New  York  was  likewise  a  marked  appreciation 
of  his  talents  and  fame.  He  now  receives  a  salary  of  six  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  and  his  engagement  is  for  eight  years. 

The  congregation  Ahavath  Chesed  is  classed  among  the  moderate 
reform  Jews,  and  was  organized  about  twenty -five  years  ago.  The 
first  preaching  was  held  in  Columbia  street,  and  afterward,  about  1861, 
a  church  in  Avenue  C  was  bought  and  altered  for  a  synagogue. 

On  the  17th  of  April,  1872,  a  magnificent  structure,  built  by  tlie 
congregation,  on  the  corner  of  Lexington  avenue  and  Fifty-fifth 
street,  was  consecrated  with  imposing  services.  This  edifice  is  built 
of  stone,  in  the  Moorish  or  Eastern  style,  and  fronts  93  feet  on  Lex 
Ington  avenue,  and  140  feet  on  Fifty-fifth  street.  The  front  elevation 
is  composed  of  five  divisions — a  section  devoted  to  the  main  entrance, 


REV.      ADOLPHUa     HUEBSCH,     PH    D. 

with  a  tower  and  a  stair  wing  on  each  side.  The  height  of  the  center 
or  main  division  is  72  feet;  the  towers  122  from  the  sidewalk  to  finial, 
and  the  stair  wings  57  feet  The  towers  are  at  base  14  feet  square 
to  the  height  of  the  stair  wings,  and  are  then  changed  into  octagons, 
with  handsome  cornices,  ending  with  round  metal  cupolas,  which  are 
richly  gilded,  and  visible  at  a  long  distance.  The  interior  is  very 
beautiful  in  Arabesque  decorations,  and  costly  appointments  of  every 
kind.  Fourteen  hundred  people  can  be  seated  in  the  aisles  and  gal- 
leries. The  cost  of  tlie  ground  and  building  was  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

The  following  extract  from  one  of  Dr.  Huebsch's  sermons  shows 
his  eloquent  and  tender  style : 

"Beligion  is  the  supporting  staff  of  hiiman  frailty.  The  weak,  the  suffering, 
the  needy  experience  most  its  soothing  and  consoling  influence.  The  strong  and 
apparently  independent  may  be  enticed  to  dispense  with  religion  and  to  rely  on 
their  own  power,  rather  than  on  the  mercy  of  the  most  High  for  salvation.  But  the 
more  dependent  and  helpless  are  moved  by  the  conciousness  of  their  condition  to 
seek  protection  and  aid  from  One  whose  might  is  never-failing,  and  whose  love  is 
everlasting,  and  ever  ready  to  descend  upon  the  meek.  Hence,  while  man  may  be 
inclined  to  rebel  against  God,  and  to  ignore  His  commands,  woman's  meek  and 
submissive  heart  opens  cheerfully  to  all  the  hopes  and  good  promises  which  inure 
to  a  true  and  undaunted  faith.  When  the  Lord  God  said  '  It  is  not  good  for  the 
man  to  be  alone,  I  will  make  a  help-meet  for  him,'  the  merciful  intention  of  God 
was  not  confined  to  the  worldly  comfort  which  man  should  derive  from  association 
with  his  lawful  wife.  God  destined  her  as  a  messenger  of  undivided  peace  for 
the  sons  of  earth  ;  her  task  was  to  sweeten  his  life  by  that  loving  care  which  makes 
a  man's  home  a  delight  for  him,  and  at  the  same  time,  the  gentleness  of  her  mind  was  to 
exert  a  beneficent  influence  upon  his  ruder  nature  ;  and  so  she  was  to  become  a  helji 
for  him,  even  in  his  spiritual  aftairs.  A  truly  pious  woman  is  irresistible.  She 
makes  us  turn  to  goodness,  gentleness,  meekness,  and  true  love;  she  brings  us  back 
to  the  source  of  all  these  qualities—  to  religion.  Well  armed,  indeed,  is  the  woman 
who  in  the  fight  of  life  makes  religion  her  weapon.  What  else  could  compensate 
for  her  deficiency,  and  make  her  strong  in  her  weakness  ?  By  what  other  means 
could  she  insure  her  own  contentment  and  the  happiness  of  those  inseparably  con- 
nected with  her  heart  ?  A  mighty  queen  without  belief  in  God  is  poor  and  for- 
saken ;  but  the  j^oor  and  forsaken,  with  a  devoted  trust  in  the  All-merciful,  she  is 
elevated  to  the  most  noble  kingdom — female  excellency." 

Dr.  Huebsch  is  the  author  of  a  work  entitled  "Peshito,"  which  is 
a  translation  of  a  portion  of  the  Syriac  version  of  the  Old  Testament 
into  the  Hebrew,  with  a  commentary.  He  has  also  prepared  and 
published,  for  the  use  of  his  own,  and  other  congregations,  a 
prayer-book  and  hymn-book  in  Hebrew  and  German.  Various  ser- 
mons by  him  have  been  published,  and  he  writes  much  on  learned 
and  occasional  topics  in  the  Jewish  papers.     In  1871  he  was  the 

President  of  the  Kabbinical  Conference  held  in  Cincinnati. 

283 


REV.      A  D  O  L  P  H  U  S     H  U  E  B  S  C  H  ,     PIT    D. 

He  is  a  man  in  the  prime  of  his  mental  and  pl,iysical  energies. 
Of  the  medium  height,  compact  and  erect,  he  has  sufficient  of  tbe 
physical  to  uphold  him  in  any  task  he  may  undertake,  while  his 
mental  faculties  are  always  earnestly  bent  upon  study  and  the  diffu- 
sion of  intelligence.  His  head  is  large,  with  a  fine  brow,  and  the 
whole  expression  of  his  face  is  amiable  and  agreeable.  In  his  mnn- 
ners  he  has  an  invariable  politeness,  which  gives  him  great  popular-" 
ity.  Although  a  close  student,  he  is  a  man  of  a  great  deal  of  practi- 
cal observation  and  knowledge.  He  is  liberal  in  all  his  views,  and 
firm  and  enthusiastic  in  all  his  purposes.  Hence,  as  he  admits,  he 
finds  himself  in  exactly  the  position  among  the  Jewish  people,  and 
in  exactly  the  country  of  liberty  and  intelligence,  where  he  can 
make  his  scholarship  and  energies  of  the  most  usefulness.  The  rise 
and  increase  of  his  congregation  is  due  to  his  influence  with  the 
masses,  not  only  as  a  spiritual  teacher,  but  as  a  man  and  citizen. 

He  preaches  with  a  great  deal  of  force  and  eloquence.  There  is 
no  restraint  or  hesitation  in  his  manner  of  dealing  with  his  subject; 
but  whatever  it  may  be,  he  displays  the  fullest  information  and  com- 
prehension in  regard  to  all  its  bearings.  Learning  and  a  practical 
realization  of  the  needs  of  mankind  are  the  chief  features  of  all  his 
discourses.  Able  and  eloquent  in  delivery,  they  are  sustained  on 
his  own  part  by  a  pure  and  consistent  private  life. 


284 


KEY.   ALBERT   S.  HUNT,  D.D., 

I»A.STOK      OF      THE      FHIST     PLAICE     MIETHODIBT 


EV.  DE.  ALBERT  S.  HUNT  was  born  in  Dutchess 
County,  New  York,  July  3d,  1827.  He  was  graduated 
at  the  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  in 
1851,  being  at  the  head  of  his  class,  and  the  valedicto- 
rian. This  was  the  last  class  which  was  graduated  under 
the  presidency  of  the  late  lamented  and  distinguished  Stephen 
Olin,  as  he  closed  his  earthly  career  not  long  after.  Dr.  Hunt 
remained  at  the  University  two  years  as  tutor,  and  two  years  as  As- 
sistant Professor  of  Moral  Science  and  Belles-Lettres.  He  was  al- 
ready a  local  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Cliurch,  and,  after  leaving 
the  University,  resumed  his  ministerial  duties  in  connection  with  a 
new  organization  at  Rhinebeck,  N.  Y.,  in  the  autumn  of  1855.  His 
health  becoming  impaired,  he  went  to  Europe,  and  traveled  for  five 
or  six  months,  and  did  not  again  enter  upon  pastoral  labors  until 
the  spring  of  1859.  Since  that  time  his  ministrations  have  all  been 
in  Brooklyn,  as  a  member  of  the  New  York  East  Conference.  Two 
years  were  spent  at  the  Nathan  Bang's  Church,  Clove  Road :  two 
years  at  the  South  Fifth  Church,  in  the  Eastern  District,  and  then 
he  received  his  first  appointment  to  the  First  Place  Church.  He 
had  been  at  other  churches  of  the  city,  and  several  times  at  the  First 
Place,  receiving  his  last  appointment  at  the  Conference  of  the  spring 
of  1874.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Wesleyan  Univer- 
sity in  1872. 

The  First  Place  congregation  grew  out  of  a  gathering  of  Meth- 
odists, who  originally  worshiped  in  Hicks  street,  and  took  its  pres- 
ent designation  in  1857.  During  the  same  year  a  church  edifice 
was  erected  on  First  Place,  the  whole  property  costing  $40,000.     A 

remaining  debt  of  $17,000  was  paid  in  1865. 

285 


REV.    ALBERT    S.    HUNT,    D.  D. 

Dr.  Hunt  is  of  a  tall,  and  well-proportioned  figure.  His  appear- 
ance is  very  plain,  and,  like  most  Methodist  ministers,  there  is  no- 
thing clerical  in  bis  dress.  His  head  is  neither  large  nor  small,  and 
the  features  are  only  in  a  measure  indicative  of  the  intellectual  man. 
He  is  not  a  person  much  led  by  other  men.  His  opinions  are  quickly 
formed,  and  he  holds  to  them  with  the  tenacity  of  life  itself  He  is 
conscientious,  and  of  a  serious  religious  temperament.  He  has  al- 
ways been  a  close  student,  and,  while  he  goes  slowly  along  the  paths 
of  knowledge  and  research,  he  gleans  with  thoroughness.  He  writes 
and  speaks  fluently.  The  most  appropriate  words  are  always  at  com- 
mand, and  there  is  an  appreciable  strength  and  beauty  in  all  that  he 
employs.  In  public  speaking  he  shows  considerable  absorption  in 
his  discussion,  but  he  has  not  much  gesture.  He  explains  his  sub- 
ject with  great  clearness. 

He  is  an  able  man  in  his  denomination.  He  shuns  notoriety  in 
all  its  forms,  but  works  patiently  and  faithfully  for  the  reward  of 
his  own  conscience.  He  may  be  called  an  enthusiast  in  Methodism. 
A  master  of  its  every  tenet,  he  is  made  earnest  and  successful  by 
an  inspiration  which  never  fails  him.  Fame  and  personal  benefits  of 
every  character  are  valueless  in  the  nobler  effort  to  make  known 
the  source  of  his  own  religious  peace. 


REV.  MANCmS  S.  HUTTOX,  D.  D., 

PA.ST01X  OF  TME  reform:ed    dxjtcu  ciiurchl 

IN    ^VJLSHINGTOiV    SQXJ^llE,    IVET*^    YORK. 


EY.  DE.  MANCICJS  S.  HUTTON  was  born  in  the  city 
of  Troy,  June  9tli,  1803.  He  was  graduated  at  Columbia 
College  about  his  twenty-first  year,  and  in  theology  at 
Princeton  Seminary  in  1826.  He  was  first  settled  over 
the  Presbyterian  Church  at  German  Valley,  New  Jersey,  in 
1828,  which  position  he  held  for  a  period  of  six  years.  In 
December,  1834,  he  was  called  as  colleague  of  Eev.  Dr.  Matthews,  at 
the  South  Dutch  Church,  Exchange  Place,  New  York.  The  church 
edifice  was  burned  in  the  calamitous  fire  of  1835,  and  the  congrega- 
tion finally  divided  on  the  question  of  selecting  a  new  location  further 
up  town.  A  division  of  the  property  was  made,  and  a  portion  of  the 
congregation,  bearing  the  old  name,  built  a  church  on  the  corner  of 
Murray  and  Church  streets,  while  forty-nine  members,  with  Drs. 
Matthews  and  Hutton  for  pastors,  organized  a  congregation  at  the 
chapel  of  the  University,  and  at  length  constructed  a  church  on 
Washington  Square,  corner  of  Washington  Place.  The  Murray 
street  congregation  now  worship  on  Fifth  avenue,  but  still  retain  the 
name  of  "  South  Church.  " 

The  new  church  on  Washington  Square  was  dedicated  in  Septem- 
ber, 1810.  It  was  a  heavy  undertaking  for  the  congregation,  the 
whole  property  having  cost  one  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  dollars, 
and  a  large  debt  remained.  Two  years  later  dissatisfaction  was  ex- 
pressed with  Dr.  Matthews,  who  resigned,  and  Dr.  Hutton  became, 
and  has  since  remained,  the  sole  pastor.  At  the  time  the  debt  was 
eighty  thousand  dollars,  all  of  which  has  been  paid,  and  the  church 
is  now  unencumbered.  The  building  accommodates  one  thousand 
persons. 

Dr.  Hutton's  publications  consist  of  sermons  and  addresses.  His 
degree  of  D.  D.  was  received  irom  Columbia  College   many  years 

Since*  0W7 


REV.      M  A  N  C I  U  S     S  .     H  U  T  T  O  N ,     D.  D. 

Dr.  Hiitton  is  a  very  large  man,  being  all  of  six  feet  liigh,  with 
breadth  of  shoulders  and  general  make  in  proportion.  As  he  walks 
he  has  a  slight  inclination  forward,  but  his  movements  are  easy  and 
stately.  He  is  of  light  complexion,  and  has  straight  light  hair,  now 
becoming  thin  and  gray. 

His  face  is  large  and  round,  with  moderately-sized  features,  and  an 
agreeable  expression.  There  is  considerable  intellectual  development, 
and  you  readily  take  him  for  a  person  of  natural  reflectiveness.  His 
manners  are  polite,  unassuming,  cordial,  and  gentle.  You  find  no 
trouble  in  getting  acquainted  with  him.  Whatever  you  talk  about 
that  is  improving  or  entertaining  he  talks  about  also.  Whatever 
emotion  the  topic  may  engender,  be  it  seriousness  or  mirth,  he  dis- 
plays as  much  of  it  as  anybody.  He  has  one  of  those  natures  that 
wins  from  its  very  naturalness,  from  its  frankness,  and  from  its  cheer- 
fulness. The  truest  manliness,  the  highest  uprightness,  and  the  best 
social  qualities  constantly  appear,  and  it  is  as  impossible  to  resist 
their  influence  as  it  is  to  doubt  that  they  stand  as  the  exact  types  of 
the  man.  Mingling  freely  and  modestly  among  men,  he  is  not  less 
admired  for  beauties  of  character  than  he  is  accepted  as  an  example 
of  Christian  and  gentlemanly  deportment. 

Dr.  Hutton  is  a  preacher  of  the  old  school.  He  preaches  for  the 
salvation  of  souls,  and  that  alone.  You  look  in  vain  in  his  sermons 
for  a  single  sentiment  showing  that  he  has  used  the  authority  of  his 
holy  calling  for  any  other  end.  In  language  the  simplest,  but  with 
religious  fervor  the  strongest,  he  argues  plainly  and  emphatically  the 
call  to  grace.  His  discourses  are  a  masterly  paraphrase  of  the 
Scriptures  themselves,  and  a  calm  exposition  of  doctrine.  Avoid- 
ing anything  like  an  attempt  to  lead  the  mind  into  metaphysical  ab- 
stractions, he  struggles,  as  much  in  love  as  alarm,  with  the  uncon- 
verted soul.  Every  line  is  strong  in  faith,  every  page  shows  the 
ardent  purpose  of  arresting  sin  and  redeeming  man  ;  and  the  whole 
is  pervaded  with  a  most  tender,  pleading  pathos.  He  speaks  effect- 
ively, while  without  the  slightest  ostentation,  having  only  a  few  or- 
dinary gestures.  His  fine,  commanding  figure,  and  never- varying 
devoutness  of  tone,  add  much  to  the  effect  of  what  he  says.  After 
forty-five  years  of  active  service  in  the  ministry,  he  is  still  hale  in 
body,  and  vigorous  in  mind,  and  as  eager  as  at  the  outset  in  the  hai'- 
vcst  of  souls. 


REV.  EDWARD  P.  INGERSOLL,  A.  M., 

S  HOOISJL.  YJV. 


Ilj^  EV.  EDWARD  P.  INGERSOLL,  A.  M.,  was  born  at 


Lee,  Massachusetts,  May  6th,  1834.  He  was  graduated 
at  Williams  College  in  1855,  and  in  theology  at  Andover 
in  1863.  He  settled  in  the  city  of  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
where  he  became  principal  of  the  High  School  for  a 
'^  year.  In  1858  he  was  graduated  at  a  law  school,  and,  having 
been  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Cleveland  during  the  same  year, 
he  practiced  for  three  years  with  success.  Strong  convictions  of 
duty  induced  him  to  abandon  the  law,  and  enter  upon  theological 
studies  at  Andover.  On  the  conclusion  of  his  course,  he  was  first 
settled  us  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Sandusky, 
Ohio,  in  December,  1863,  in  which  position  he  remained  between 
four  and  five  years.  He  then  went  to  the  Plymouth  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Indianopolis,  Indiana,  where  he  labored  for  two 
years.  In  1869  he  was  called  to  the  Middle  Reformed  Church,  in 
South  Brooklyn. 

This  congregation  was  organized  about  thirty  years  ago,  and 
public  worship  was  conducted  in  a  church  on  the  corner  of  Court 
and  Butler  streets.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Otey  was  the  first  pastor,  and 
after  him  came  the  Rev.  Mr.  Talmage,  and  then  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Nicholas  E.  Smith,  who  officiated  for  a  number  of  years,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  Ingersoll.  After  some  years  the  congregation  had 
so  increased  that  a  large  church  edifice  and  chapel  adjoining  were 
erected,  on  Harrison  street,  near  Court  street.  There  are  about  five 
hundred  members,  and  the  Sunday  School  has  three  hundred  and 
fifty  children. 

A  few  years  since  Mr.  Ingersoll  passed  a  vacation  in  travel  in 
Europe.     He  has  published  various  sermons,  and  writes  occasionally 

for  the  religious  press. 

289 


REV.     EDWARD    P.     INGERSOLL,    A.M. 

Mr.  Ingersoll  has  an  erect  and  graceful  figure.  He  has  a  fine 
head,  with  a  face  of  light  complexion,  and  so  expressive  of  the 
higher  intellectual  and  moral  characteristics,  that  you  delight  to 
study  it.  The  eyes  are  large,  and  full  of  the  truth  and  love  and 
nobleness  which  are  in  the  man,  and  in  every  feature  and  every 
line  of  the  whole  face  tliere  is  to  be  seen  some  token  of  a  truly 
manly  and  a  truly  elevated  nature.  His  manners  are  equally  fasci- 
natino-,  for  they  have  a  natural  frankness,  and  they  are  the  instant 
and  emphatic  evidence  of  his  courtesy  and  good  will. 

As  a  preacher,  and  a  worker  in  the  field  of  the  Lord,  he  is  one 
who  makes  no  display  of  his  talents,  or  of  his  ability  in  any  particu- 
lar, but  he  preaches  and  he  works  for  the  single  purpose  of  saving 
the  lost.  A  man  of  much  learned  investigation,  of  a  wide  and  prac- 
tical experience  in  life,  he  is  a  powerful  speaker  in  the  pulpit,  and 
not  less  an  energetic  laborer  out  of  it.  Hence  his  ministry  has  been 
a  great  success.  Of  him  it  can  be  justly  said  that  his  reputation  is 
based  not  only  on  personal  worth,  but  on  the  usefulness  of  bis 
talents  and  efforts  to  the  community  at  large. 


MY,   DAVID   INGLIS,   LL.D., 

PASTOR     OF     THE     REFORMEO     CHURCH     OjV 
TH^E     HEIOHTS,     RROOItEYN. 


|EV.  DAYID  INGLIS,  LL.  D.  was  born  at  Greenlaw, 
Berwickshire,  Scotland,  June  8tb,  1825.  He  is  the  son 
of  the  Rev.  David  luglis,  a  well-known  minister  in  the 
South  of  Scotland.  He  was  graduated  at  the  Edinburgh 
University,  in  1841,  and  concluded  a  theological  course  at  the 
same  institution  in  1846.  His  license  to  preach  was  given  b}- 
the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle,  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  England.  In  1846,  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and  passed 
one  year  in  the  West  without  a  charge.  During  the  following  year 
he  commenced  labor  at  Tubby  Hook,  near  New  York,  at  which 
place  he  continued  for  several  years.  In  1853  he  was  called  to  St. 
Gabriel  Street  Free  Presbyterian  Church  of  Montreal,  where  he  re- 
mained until  called,  in  1855,  to  the  AicNab  Street  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Hamilton,  Ontario,  Canada,  where  he  labored  for  sixteen 
years.  He  built  up  a  very  strong  congregation,  and  there  was  a 
warm  attachment  between  pastor  and  people.  For  some  years  he 
had  held  very  close  relations  with  Knox  College,  at  Toronto,  and, 
in  September,  1871,  he  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Canada  Presbyterian  Church,  to  the  chair  of  Systematic  Theol- 
ogy. Notwithstanding  his  reluctance  to  leave  his  congregation,  he 
determined  to  accept  the  position,  and  accordingly  entered  upon  his 
duties.  In  the  next  year,  however,  the  postponement  of  an  expected 
endowment  of  the  institution  obliged  his  resignation.  He  visited 
New  York  during  1842,  and  when  preaching  a  seniion  in  the  pulpit 
of  his  friend,  the  Bev.  Dr.  Ormistou,  he  was  heard  by  a  committee  of 
the  Reformed  Church  on  the  Heights,  Brooklyn,  and  at  once  called 
to  the  position  which  he  now  occupies. 

The  Reformed  Church  on  the  Heights  grew  out  of  the  Central 
Reformed  Church,  who  called  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune  from  Phil- 

21)1 


REV.     DAVID    INGLIS,    LL.D 

adelphia  to  Brooklyn,  and  erected  a  new  cliurch  on  Pierrepont  street 
The  diurcb  has  a  very  eligible  site  on  the  Heights,  and  is  a  very 
fine  building,  with  brown  stone  front,  seating  about  one  thousand 
two  hundred  people,  and  has  a  novelty  of  being  lighted  from  the 
roof.  In  the  rear  is  a  spacious  lecture-room,  fronting  on  Monroe 
Place.  The  property  cost  about  eightj'^  thousand  dollars,  and  is  free 
from  debt  Other  pastors  of  the  church  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Eells,  now  of  California,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Zachary  Eddy,  now  of  Detroit 

Dr.  Inglis  received  the  degree  of  LL,  D.  from  the  Michigan  Uni- 
versity. He  published  in  London  a  work  called  "  Crown  Jewels," 
and  in  Canada,  in  1861,  two  sermons  under  the  respective  titles  of 
"  The  Memory  of  God's  Gracious  Dealings  to  be  Cherished  and  Per- 
petuated," and  "  Righteousness  Exalteth  a  Nation."  He  also  pub- 
lished, other  sermons,  and  his  inaugural  lecture  at  Knox  College, 
under  the  title  of  "  Dogmatic  Theology,"  He  was  a  contributor  to 
the  Princeton  BevieWy  and  Theological  Journal^  of  New  York,  New 
York  Observer^  and  otlier  publications,  and  is  now  writing  in  the 
Christian  Intelligencer^  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Inglis  is  of  a  tall,  well-proportioned  figure.  He  has  a  large 
head,  with  regular  features.  His  manners  are  quiet  and  courteous 
to  alL  You  experience  no  difficulty  in  feeling  on  easy  terms  with 
him,  for  he  is  so  gentlemanly  and  pleasant,  and  fidls  so  readily  into 
unrestrained  conversation,  that  you  are  placed  on  an  immediate 
footing  of  intimacy.  He  is  cheerful,  warm,  and  sincere  in  all  his  feel- 
ings, drawing  each  person  in  good  fellowship  to  himself,  and  giving 
back  an  abundance  of  good-will  which  cannot  fail  to  be  appreciated 
He  is  profound  in  theological  scholarship,  and  a  powerful  preacher 
of  his  faith.  His  whole  nature  and  his  deepest  convictions  are  in- 
volved in  his  religious  belief  At  the  same  time  he  is  a  man  of  en- 
tire calmness  and  method  in  both  action  and  thought.  There  is  no 
display,  no  evidence  of  impulsiveness,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that 
soberness  of  manner,  and  that  calm  deliberation  which  carry  most 
weight  in  conversation  and  public  speaking.  He  writes  with  force 
and  eloquence,  going  deeply  into  the  elucidation  of  his  subject,  and 
giving  a  scholai-'s  care  to  the  choice  and  effect  of  language.  As  a 
speaker  his  delivery  is  excellent,  and  he  imparts  to  all  that  he  says 
the  impressiveness  which  comes  from  dignity  of  bearing  and  origin- 
ality of  reasoning.  Always  able  and  successful  in  his  ministerial 
work,   he  is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  strongest  minds  of  the 

Evangelical  Cliurch. 

29S 


REV.    JOHN   OSKIP, 

I^A.T'El      I>^STOK      OF    THE      OREEIVE      STUEET 
METHODIST    CHUliCH,    jVE^W    YORK. 


|EV.  JOHN  S.  INSKIP  was  born  in  Huntington,  Eng- 
land, August  10th,  1816.  When  five  years  of  age  his 
father  came  to  this  country  with  the  family,  and  settled  in 
Wilmington,  Delaware.  Mr.  Inskip  says  that  he  considers 
himself  a  "  full  blooded  native  American,"  and  feels  no 
"^  particular  pride  at  the  fact  of  his  birth  being  in  the  realm  of 
haughty  "John  Bull."  His  early  education  was  pursued  in  the 
schools  of  Wilmington ;  and  later  he  spent  some  time  at  Dickinson 
College,  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.  He  entered  the  itinerant  ministry  of 
the  Methodist  church,  in  connection  with  the  Philadelphia  Confer- 
ence, in  1835,  and  successively  held  appointments  in  Springfield, 
Cecil,  and  Nottingham  circuits,  in  Marjdand ;  at  Easton,  Pennsylvania, 
Western,  Kensington,  and  Salem  churches.  Philadelphia,  and  Ger- 
mantown.  In  1845  he  was  transferred  to  the  Cincinnati  Conference, 
and  appointed  to  the  Ninth  Street  church  in  that  city ;  then  going  to 
Dayton,  and  subsequently  to  Urbana,  Springfield,  and  Troy.  After 
this  he  was  transferred  to  the  New  York  East  Conference,  and 
stationed  at  Madison  Street  church,  New  York  City,  and  afterward 
at  Fleet  Street,  Centenary,  and  De  Kalb  Avenue  churches,  Brooklyn, 
Ninth  Street,  New  York,  and  then  became  chaplain  of  the  Brooklyn 
Fourteenth  Regiment,  and  served  in  the  field  equal  to  two  ministerial 
years.  He  was  next  stationed  at  Birmingham,  Conn.;  then  at  the 
South  Third  Street  church,  in  the  Eastern  District  of  Brooklyn,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1866  he  was  appointed  to  the  Greene  Street  church, 
New  York. 

More  recently,  Mr.  Inskip  has  devoted  his  time  to  attending  and 
conducting  Camp  Meetings  as  a  revivalist  Among  other  places 
visited  by  him  was  Utah,  where  he  preached  in  a  great  tent,  trans- 
ported thither  for  the  meetings. 

293 


REV.    JOHN    INSKIP. 

Mr.  Inskip  is  the  author  of  a  work,  entitled  "  Methodism  Ex- 
plained and  Defended,"  published  in  Cincinnati  in  1851  ;  and  was 
editor  of  the  True  Freeman^  a  weekly  paper,  formerly  published  in 
New  York  as  the  organ  of  the  American  Protestant  Association.  He 
was  active  in  the  Native  American  movement  some  years  ago,  and 
delivered  various  addresses  before  the  Order  of  United  Americans. 

Mr.  Inskip  is  about  of  the  medium  height,  with   a  full,  round 
person,  and  an  erect  carriage.     He  has  a  round  head,  with  small, 
regular  features,  and  has  an  amiable,  intelligent  face.     He  is  a  social, 
genial  man,  and  is  always  on  the  best  terms  with  everybody.     Tiiere 
is  an  independence  and  spirit  of  good  nature  about  him  which  per- 
vade all  his  conduct,  both  in  public  and  private,  and  make  him  not 
less  a  noticeable  than  an  interesting  character.     He  has  had  a  world 
of  experience  with  mankind,  and  in  the  events  of  life  in  his  wide  field 
of  ministerial  duty,  and,  like  other  veterans,  he  draws  agreeably  from 
his  treasury  of  reminiscences  for  the  entertainment  and  instruction 
of  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact.     He  is  in  every  sense  the 
Methodist  minister,  having  all  the  distinctive  peculiarities  which  be- 
long to  the  individual  in  this  branch  of  the  clerical  profession.    Were 
he  President  of  the  United  States,  he  woukl  deem  it  a  lighter  lionor 
than  that  of  being  one  of  the  ministers  of  this  his  beloved  church  ;  and 
it  is  his  pride  on  all  occasions  to  make  known  the  fact,  and  act  up  to 
all  the  requirements  of  the  position.     The  true  representative  Metho- 
dist minister  is  a  self-made,    self-educated,    humble-minded,    hard- 
toiling  laborer  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.    Mr.  Inskip  soon  lets  you 
know  that  this  is  his  exact  measurement  as  a  man  and  a  clergyman. 
No  place  or  company  can  prevent  him  fi-om  intruding  himself  as  the 
independent,  persistent  exhorter.    All  times  are  his  times  for  declaim- 
ing his  religion,  all  places  are  his  fitting  sanctuary,  and  all  persons 
are  those  to  whom  he  makes  himself  a  pastor.     This  is  undoubtedly 
the   true   spirit   of  Methodism  in  its  primitiveness  and  as  a  pre- 
eminently proselyting  faith.     The  early  Methodist  preacher  was  a 
guide  to  the  people,  and  an  exhorter  who  was  not  to  wait  for  Sab 
baths  and  pulpits  to  make  known  his  message,  but  to  do  it  openly 
and  fearlessly,  at  all  times,  and  to  all  people.     Mr.  Inskip  is  such  a 
man.    He  is  busy  with  his  religious  work  in  season  and  out  of  season ; 
he  exhorts  with  you  whether  you  will  or  not,  and  you  have  to  learn 
something  about  bis  Bible  and  Methodism  whether  you  are  pleased 
or  not.     He  has  an   independent,  off-hand,  good-natured  way  with 
him  that  always  carries  his  point,  and  without  offence.     It  is  not  too 

29'i 


REY.     JOHN    INSKIP. 

much  to  say  that  he  has  brought  many  a  sheep  into  the  fold  bv  speak- 
ing when  most  other  men  would  be  silent,  and  that  he  has  made  him- 
self conspicuous  in  his  denomination  by  an  amount  of  faithfulness  to 
his  whole  duty  such  as  none  of  his  cotemDoraries  have  excelled  and 
but  few  equaled. 

In  speaking,  at  first  his  manner  is  very  deliberate,  and  his  voice 
is  in  rather  a  low  tone,  but  as  he  proceeds  he  shows  more  animation. 
He  speaks  extemporaneously,  but  with  a  great  deal  of  reflectiveness. 
He  relates  anecdotes  and  circumstances  to  illustrate  his  theme ;  and 
at  times  lie  rises  with  an  intense  degree  of  feeling  into  the  higher 
flights  of  impassioned  eloquence.  His  preaching  is  declamatory  and 
pathetic  more  than  doctrinal  or  strictly  argumentative.  Wliat  argu- 
ment he  uses  is  of  the  moral  sort,  drawn  from  the  common  events  of 
life,  and  thus  brought  home  to  every  listener.  As  he  proceeds,  mak- 
ing every  thing  clear  as  he  goes,  and  stimulating  more  and  more  the 
feelings  of  his  auditors,  it  is  seen  that  the  large  and  promiscuous 
.audience  is  in  the  closest  attention,  and  that  on  the  part  of  many  the 
utmost  sensitiveness  is  displayed.  His  earnest  pathos  touches  the 
chords  of  feeling,  and  it  is  not  difficult  for  him  to  crowd  his  altar 
night  after  night  with  new  converts. 

At  an  early  date  the  Methodist  ministiy  was  not  an  educated 
body  of  men.  They  were  flimiliar  with  the  text  of  the  Bible  and 
inspired  with  a  holy  zeal  for  their  calling.  At  this  time  they  have 
seminaries  for  the  education  of  their  ministers,  and  they  require  a 
higher  standard  of  qualification  before  candidates  are  admitted  to 
the  full  rank  of  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Hence  every  day  shows  an 
abler  class  of  men  in  the  Methodist  pulpit,  and  the  preaching  is  more 
learned.  But,  after  all,  the  gTcat  force  in  their  preaching  is  its  de- 
clamatory style,  its  showy,  moving  eloquence,  and  its  appeals  to  the 
feelings, 

Mr.  Inskip  takes  this  road  to  success  in  his  ministry.  Leaving 
the  stricter  mental  questionings  of  the  contrite  hearer  to  take  care  of 
themselves,  he  assails  the  more  vulnerable  heart  He  knows  its 
weaknesses,  how  it  may  be  softened,  and  how  it  is  to  be  won.  With 
matchless  art,  with  all  the  promises  and  terrors  of  the  scriptures  at 
his  tongue  s  end,  with  his  own  feelings  as  tender  and  kindly  as  his 
words  are  solemn  and  earnest,  he  struggles  to  unlock  the  hearts  of  his 
hearers  to  the  impressions  of  religion, 

295 


REV.  THEODORE  TRYING,  LL.  D,, 

I^A.TE     KECTOIl     OF"     TMiEi     CHUHCH     OF     TUJE 

m:ei>i^tok,  tsteav  yordel. 


EV.  THEODORE  IRVING  was  born  in  the  city  oi  New 
York,  Maj  9tli,  1809.  He  is  a  nephew  of  the  late 
"Washington  Irving,  and  was  intimately  associated  with 
him  in  life.  While  making  preparations  to  enter  Co- 
lumbia College  he  went  abroad,  in  company  with  his 
Tincle,  and  completed  his  education  in  Madrid,  Paris,  and 
London.  At  the  time  that  Louis  McLain  was  American  minister 
at  the  court  of  St.  James,  Mr.  Washington  Irving  was  Secretary 
of  Legation,  and  Theodore  was  the  private  secretary  of  his  uncle. 
The  latter  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1830,  and  studied  law 
a  year  in  the  office  of  Judge  John  Duer.  He  then  become  Pro- 
fessor of  Belles-Lettres,  History,  and  Modern  Languages  at  Geneva 
College,  now  Hobart  College,  an  Episcopal  institution,  where  he 
remained  thirteen  years.  During  this  period  he  received  the  degree 
of  LL.  D.  from  Union  College.  In  1851  he  accepted  the  same  pro- 
fessorship at  the  Free  Academy,  New  York,  in  which  position  he 
remained  three  years,  when  he  commenced  the  study  of  theology. 
In  February,  1855,  he  was  made  deacon  by  Bishop  Potter,  at  St. 
Mary's  Church,  Brooklyn  ;  and  two  months  later  he  was  admitted 
to  the  priesthood  by  the  same  bishop,  at  the  Church  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, New  York.  He  was  first  settled '*as  rector  at  Christ  Church, 
Bay  Ridge,  Long  Island,  remaining  two  years ;  then  going  to  St. 
Andrew's,  Richmond,  Staten  Island,  where  he  remained  eight  years, 
until  his  health  failed  him.  He  received  a  call  to  the  chair  of  Pulpit 
Eloquence  and  Pastoral  Care  in  the  Divinity  School  of  Philadelphia, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  the  rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the  Mediator, 
New  York.  Having  accepted  the  latter,  he  commenced  his  duties  in 
January,  1865. 

His  health  fliiling,  he  went  to  Europe  in  the  spring  of  1867,  and 
returned  home  in  the  autumn,  when  he  resigned  his  rectortjhip  of  the 

296 


EEV.    THEODOPE    IRVING,     LL.D. 

Media' or,  and  took  charge  of  St.  Paul's,  Newburg,  in  the  absence 
of  the  rector,  for  one  year,  Ln  1869  he  was  called  to  Statcn  Island, 
to  organize  a  new  parish  in  that  place,  where  he  had  a  chapel  when 
he  was  rector  of  St.  Andrew's.  The  congregation  erected  a  beautiful 
stone  church  (The  Ascension),  and  he  remained  there  thi'ee  years,  and 
then  accejited  a  call  to  become  President  of  a  Ladies'  College  in 
Canada.  Here  he  remained  eighteen  months,  and  became  so  charmed 
with  the  work  that  he  determined  to  introduce  the  same  plan  in  a 
school  among  his  own  people,  satisfied  that  there  was  room  in  the  city 
of  New  York  for  a  Christian  school  for  young  ladies.  He  is  now 
conducting  such  an  establishment.  The  peculiar  feature  of  this 
school  is,  that  while  affording  the  highest  kind  of  scholastic  train- 
ing, especial  regard  is  given  to  the  Christian  ciflture  of  all  the  young 
ladies  who  enter  it 

Dr.  Irving  is  the  author  of  "  Conquest  of  Florida,"  "  Fountain  of 
Living  Water,"  and  "The  Tiny  Footfall."  He  gave  considerable  aid 
to  his  distinguished  uncle  in  the  preparation  of  several  of  his  works 
for  the  press. 

Dr.  Irving  is  about  of  the  medium  height,  equally  proportioned, 
and  of  graceful,  active  movements.  There  is  the  tone  of  the  highest 
breeding  in  his  manner,  and  his  countenance  has  that  intelligence  and 
pleasantness  which  are  so  attractive.  Nature  made  him  a  gentleman, 
and  culture  has  done  nothing  more  than  to  develop  and  adorn  in- 
herent qualities.  A  man  of  this  kind  is  always  genial.  Dignity  is 
softened  by  a  thousand  acts  of  politeness,  and  the  heart,  overflowing 
with  its  social  instincts,  its  friendship,  and  its  affection,  teaches  the 
lips  only  expressions  of  courtesy  and  gentleness.  With  Dr.  L'ving 
there  is  an  ever-present  dignity  ;  but  intercourse  with  him  is  totally 
without  restraint,  from  the  fact  of  his  exceeding  geniality.  His 
warmth  of  manner  is  likewise  characterized  by  an  immistakable  sin- 
cerit}^  He  means  all  that  he  appears.  His  conversation  is  very 
a  iimated,  and  whenever  it  is  proper  turns  to  the  cheerful  side  of 
matters.  His  intellectual  capabilities  are  of  the  highest  order.  You 
see  it  in  his  round,  full  brow,  his  clear,  speaking  eyes,  and,  indeed, 
tlie  whole  expression  of  his  face.  It  is  evident  that  he  is  a  man  of  a 
deep,  com])rehensive  mind,  and  the  greatest  ardor  in  the  pursuit  of 
learning.  He  exhibits  no  pedantry,  hardly  a  consciousness  of  any 
thing  more  than  an  ordinary  degree  of  culture,  and  his  intelligence 
and  acquii-ements  seem  as  mere  resources  to  promote  genial  associa- 
tion, 

297 


REV.     THEODORE    IRVING,    LL.  I). 

Mr.  Irving  lias  distinguished  himself  as  a  professor.  The  traits 
we  have  mentioned  give  him  unbounded  power  as  a  teacher,  and  he 
has  been  most  successful  in  the  departments  in  which  he  has  given 
instruction.  As  a  writer  he  also  excels.  His  intimacy  with  Wash- 
ington Irving  gave  him  the  benefit  of  one  of  the  best  masters  of  Eng- 
lish composition  who  ever  lived.  And  much  of  the  purity  of  diction, 
simplicity  of  style,  and  tenderness  of  tone  which  have  made  the  writ- 
ings of  his  gifted  uncle  so  noted  appear  in  his  own  compositions.  His 
sermons  contain  a  happy  mingling  of  learned,  logical  argument,  and 
delicate  religious  sentiment  He  has  very  little  gesture,  but  his  voice 
is  distinct  and  animated. 

298 


REV.   SAMUEL   M.  ISAACS, 

KAJBBI      OF      THE      CO]VGTH:Gj^TIOT«i"      ©H:A.i!LKA.Y 
TEFILA,    ]VIi:W     YORK:, 


EV.  SAMUEL  M.  ISAACS  was  born  in  Leewarden, 
S^  Holland,  in  January,  1804.  His  father  was  a  banker  in 
that  city,  but  losing  all  his  property  by  the  French  war, 
he  emigrated  to  England.  Our  subject  was  Princi- 
pal of  an  educational  and  charitable  institution  in  London 
for  several  years.  In  1839  he  came  to  New  York,  where 
he  had  received  a  call  to  the  old  Elm  Street  Synagogue  {Bnai 
Jeshurum).  He  might  be  called  the  "father  of  the  Jewish 
clergy  "  in  this  city,  as  he  has  been  residing  here  longer  than  any  of 
the  other  ministers.  His  learning  and  eloquence  attracted  crowds  of 
visitors — Christians  in  large  numbers,  to  the  synagogue  where  he  was 
to  be  heard.  He  lectured  in  the  English  tongue,  and  so  little  was 
known  of  the  Jews  and  Judaism  at  that  time,  that  people  were 
anxious  to  be  informed  on  these  topics.  The  congregation  Shaaray 
Tefila,  or  "Gates  of  Prayer,  "  grew  out  of  the  Ehn  Street  Synagogue 
in  1845,  and  he  was  elected  its  minister. 

This  bod_y  of  Jewish  worshipers  held  its  first  services  in  Franklin 
street,  near  Broadway,  but  erected  a  synagogue  in  Wooster  street, 
near  Prince,  in  1845.  The  building,  however,  gave  way  to  the  up- 
town movement  of  these  people,  and  was  sold  in  1864.  In  September, 
1864,  the  congregation  dedicated  its  third  place  of  worship  in  the 
building  at  the  corner  of  Thirty-sixth  street  and  Broadway,  where  it 
remained  during  the  erection  of  a  synagogue  in  West  Forty -fourth 
street.  This  structure  is  one  of  the  most  magnificent  public  edifices 
in  New  York,  and,  in  fact,  in  the  world.  It  occupies  a  lot  one  hun- 
dred feet  square.  The  material  is  Newark  freestone,  with  Dorchester 
for  trimmings,  and  the  architecture  is  of  the  Moorish  type.  All  the 
windows  are  of  stained  glass,  exquisite  in  color  and  design.  The 
columns  supporting  the  arches  over  the  main  entrance  are  delicately 
wrought,  and  the  entire  ornamentatiou  is  very  tasteful.     Four  massive 

299 


REV.      SAMUEL     M .     ISAACS, 

columns  support  the  roof,  having  their  capitals  elegantly  decorated, 
and  their  shafts  bronzed.  From  these  columns  spring  grand  arches 
longitudinally  and  transversely.  ■  The  ceiling  is  highly  decorated, 
blue,  light  chocolate  and  white  being  the  principal  colors.  The  walls 
are  decorated  in  light  buff,  relieved  by  the  beautifully  stained  glass 
windows  and  the  ornamental  borders.  The  seats  are  of  black  walnut, 
and  richly  cushioned.  The  Almenor  or  reading  desk  is  ornate  in 
design,  and  richly  finished  in  hard  wood.  The  Ark,  with  which  the 
pulpit  is  combined,  is  the  most  elegant  erection  of  its  class  in  the 
country.  It  is  of  black  walnut,  with  ornaments  of  oak  and  other 
woods,  carved  and  inlaid.  The  columns  are  chaste  ;  the  bases  and 
capitals  ornate.  Above  the  ark  is  a  beautiful  rose  wmdow  of  stained 
glass.  An  elegant  curtain  of  crimson  satin,  with  velvet  border  and 
centerpiece,  embroidered  in  bullion,  hangs  before  the  Ark.  The 
pulpit  is  of  black-walnut,  with  oak  inlaid,  and  richly  carved.  The 
entire  auditory  floor  is  covered  with  handsome  Axminister  carpet. 
The  building  also  contains  four  large  school-rooms,  a  chapel,  a  par- 
lor for  ladies,  retiring-room  for  gentlemen,  beside  other  apartments. 
The  choir  is  located  in  the  gallery.  The  cost  of  this  splendid  struc- 
ture was  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  of  whicb  the  large  sum  of 
sixty  thousand  was  for  tlie  Ark. 

The  ceremonial  of  consecration  took  place  on  the  afternoon  of 
Thursday,  May  11th,  1869.  The  music  was  by  a  choir  and  thirty-five 
pieces  of  music.  The  possession  of  the  synagogue  was  placed  in  the 
keeping  of  the  President  by  an  appropriate  address,  and  the  delivery 
of  a  silver  key.  The  scrolls  of  the  law  were  then  brought  with  due 
ceremony  from  the  vestibule  b}^  the  appointed  bearers.  As  the  Ark 
was  approached  the  perpetual  light  was  lighted,  and  the  recej^tical 
was  opened  by  the  past-President.  Seven  circuits  of  the  synagogue 
were  then  made  b}^  the  bearers,  tlie  choir  chanting  psalms  mean- 
v/hile.  At  the  close  of  this  last  circuit  the  scrolls  of  the  law  were  re- 
turned to  the  Ark,  the  choir  chanting  a  psalm.  A  consecration 
discourse  was  then  delivered  by  the  minister,  and  a  prayer  offered 
for  the  welfare  and  perpetuity  of  the  United  States  government.  A 
concluding  hymn  and  benediction  closed  the  services. 

In  1866  the  Eev.  H.  Philips  was  elected  reader.  Rev.  Mr.  Isaacs 
devotes  himself  exclusively  to  the  duties  of  minister,  and  discourses 
regularly  every  other  Saturday.  The  services  adhere  very  closely  to 
those  adopted  by  the  synods  of  centuries  ago,  and  are  entirely  in 
Hebrew,  except  the  sermon  and  prayer  for  the  government.     The 

soo 


REV,     SAMUEL     M .      ISAACS. 

males  are  seated  below  and  the  females  in  tlie  galleries.  Scarfs  are 
worn  hy  the  males  and  the  hats  are  retained.  There  is  no  organ — 
the  chorals  are  chanted  by  men  and  boys. 

The  Jewish  Messenger  thinks  that  there  are  not  less  than  eighty 
thousand  Jews  in  New  Y<^rk,  because  the  New  Year  holidays  found 
upward  of  thirty  synagogues  crowded  to  excess,  and  there  were  at 
least  twenty  temporary  shrines  opened  for  the  solemn  season,  all  full 
to  repletion.  In  the  eastern  section  of  the  city,  from  Fourteenth  to 
Seventieth  street,  there  were  ten  minor  halls  fitted  up  as  synagogues, 
and  all  were  full.  In  1706  the  first  Jewish  congregation  was  formed 
in  New  York,  and  in  1744  the  first  synagogue  was  built.  In  1839  there 
were  only  three  synagogues  in  the  city  ;  but  ten  yeai'S  later  they  had 
greatly  increased.  There  are  now  some  three  hundred  and  twenty 
in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Isaacs  has  himself  consecrated  thirty-eight 
synagogues  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  including  the  first  one 
ever  built  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

The  first  Jewish  settlers  in  the  United  States  emigrated  from  the 
Dutch  AVest  Indies  and  Guiana,  and  Holland  itself,  and  established 
themselves  at  Newport,  E.  I.,  New  York,  Charleston  and  Savannah. 
The  earliest  record  dates  back  to  1660,  when  a  charter  was  granted 
by  the  j^rovince  of  New  Amsterdam  to  the  Jewish  community, 
authorizing  the  laying  out  of  a  burial  ground.  There  is  a  syna- 
gogue standing  at  Newport,  E.  I.,  erected  more  than  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago. 

Eev.  Mr.  Isaacs  has  been  for  many  years  the  editor  of  the  Jewish 
Messenger,  a  weekly  journal  which  is  the  organ  of  the  strict,  or  con- 
servative Jews,  and  of  which  he  is  also  the  publisher  in  connection 
with  two  of  his  sons.  He  wields  a  ready  and  powerful  pen,  and  has 
done  as  much  as  any  man  in  this  country  in  establishing  the  Jewish 
press.  He  is  connected  with  all  the  Jewish  charities  of  New  York, 
some  of  which  he  was  active  in  founding. 

Mr.  Isaacs  is  under  the  average  height,  and  very  active  in  his  tem- 
perament. His  head  is  small,  but  of  intellectual  appearance,  and  he 
has  regular,  delicate  features.  He  has  clear  hazel  eyes,  hair  sprinkled 
with  gray,  and  white  whiskers.  In  his  manners  he  is  very  pleasing, 
being  frank,  courteous,  and  warm  with  all  persons,  and  he  shows 
much  animation  in  conversation.  He  is  cheerful,  and  noted  for  a 
keen  sense  of  humor.  The  strong  points  of  his  character  are 
amiability,  benevolence,  and  piety,  and,  above  all,  firmness  to  prin- 
ciples, opinions,  and  purposes.     He  enjoys  excellent  health,  owing  to 

01 


REV.     SAMUEL     M.      ISAACS. 

bis  regular  habits  and  indefatigable  industry.  He  rises  early,  and 
attends  synagogue  every  morning  before  seven  o'clock.  He  is  a 
strict  Jew  in  every  sense.  He  stands  at  the  head  in  this  country  of 
the  old  scljool  cf  Jews.  This  is  the  party  who  resist  the  innovations 
in  the  service  of  the  synagogue,  which  are  advocated  and  carried  out 
by  the  class  known  as  radicals,  who  are  now  not  by  any  means  incon- 
siderable in  nnrnbers.  In  his  pulpit  and  his  paper,  Mr.  Isaacs  brings 
all  the  power  of  his  talents,  learning,  and  force  of  character  to  uphold 
Judaism  in  its  primitive  characteristics ;  and  he  has  done  it  with  an 
abilit}'  and  success  which  have  given  him  a  wide  fame  in  his  own 
religious  body,  and  among  the  people  generally.  His  style  as  a 
preacher  is  logical  and  emphatic.  The  power  of  his  erudition,  and 
liis  superior  natural  comprehensiveness,  are  seen  in  all  his  statements 
and  arguments,  and  his  earnest  tones  and  manner  show  how  sincerely 
his  heart  is  in  all  that  he  utters.  He  is  honest,  fair,  and  sometimes 
perhaps  a  little  blunt  in  the  discussion  of  all  questions,  but  at  the 
same  time  there  is  not  less  disj)lay  of  the  tender  and  sympathetic 
emotions  of  the  heart.  His  people  are  drawn  to  him  by  unusually 
strong  ties.  He  is  the  embodiment  and  illustration  of  their  cherished 
principles  of  faith,  and  in  his  personal  character  stands  pre-eminent 
for  the  highest  qualities  which  can  adorn  the  individual,  clergyman, 
and  citizen. 

303 


REV.  BISHOP  EDMUND  STOKER  JANES,  D.  D., 

OF    THE    3I:ETH0I>I©T    EPISCOPAL      CMTJRCH. 


lEV.  BISHOP  EDMUND  STOEEE  JANES,  D.  D.,  was 

born   in  Sheffield,   Berkshire   county,   Mass.,  April  27th, 
1807.     At  the  time  he  was  four  years  of  age  his  parents 
'^^^^   removed  to  Salisburj^,  Connecticut.     From  1824  to  1880 
^1^  he  was  engaged  in  teaching,  and  during  three  years  of  this  period 


r'.'Q  found  opportunity  to  give  attention  to  the  study  of  the  law. 
When  about  to  seek  admission  to  the  bar,  the  sudden  death  of  the 
person  with  whom  he  was  to  associate  himself  in  business,  and  his 
own  religious  conversion,  induced  him  to  change  his  plans  aud  com- 
mence preparations  for  entering  the  Methodist  ministry.  His  first  ap- 
pointment was  in  April,  1830,  at  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  where  he 
remained  two  years.  Subsequently  he  preached  at  Orange,  was  an 
agent  of  Dickinson  College  for  three  years,  pastor  of  churches  in 
Philadelphia  for  three  years,  pastor  in  New  York  for  two  years,  and 
Financial  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society  for  four  years.  His 
change  from  the  last-named  position  was  occasioned  by  his  being 
elected  one  of  the  nine  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in 
1844.  Six  years  of  the  time  enumerated  were  likewise  given  to  the 
study  of  theology ;  and  while  performing  the  active  duties  of  the  pas- 
torship he  also  undertook  the  study  of  medicine,  without  any  design, 
however,  of  changing  his  profession.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in 
1852,  and  elder  in  1854.  In  1842  iie  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  from 
the  Vermont  University,  and  in  the  same  year  that  of  A.  M.  from 
Dickinson  College,  and  in  1844  that  of  D.  D.,  also  from  the  latter  in- 
stitution. His  field  of  labor  as  bishop  has  been  chiefly  in  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  In  1857,  and  again  in  1863, 
he  visited  California.  During  a  visit  to  Europe  he  presided  ov^er  one 
of  the  German  Conferences;  and  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to 
the  British  Conference  of  1865.  He  has  traveled  in  all 
the  States  except  Florida,  and  in  most  of  the  Territories.    In  1859  he 

303 


REV.      BISHOP     EDMUXD     S.     JANES,     D.  D. 

attempted  to  liold  a  conference  in  Texas,  in  the  interest  of  tbe  church 
north,  but  Inmself  and  the  body  were  mobbed  and  dispersed.  The 
particular  district  in  which  each  bishop  is  employed  is  a  subject  of 
arrangement  between  themselves  once  a  year,  and  the  intention  is  that 
each  shall  at  some  time  visit  every  portion  of  the  church.  The 
salary  and  traveling;  expenses  of  the  bishops  are  paid  out  of  the  pro 
fits  of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern. 

This  powerful  and  wealthy  establishment  was  organized  in  1789, 
in  Philadelphia,  with  a  borrowed  capital  of  only  $600.  It  was  con- 
ducted by  agents,  who,  up  to  1808,  were  stationed  like  other  preach- 
ers. The  business  was  at  length  removed  to  New  York,  and  from 
one  street  to  another  until,  in  1833,  it  was  located  in  Mulberry  street, 
where  the  manufacturing  is  still  carried  on  in  an  extensive  building. 
In  1836  the  building,  machinery,  and  most  of  the  stock  were  destroyed 
by  fire.  In  the  spring  of  1799  the  whole  amount  of  capital,  includ- 
ing debts,  amounted  to  $4,000  ;  five  years  later  it  had  reached  $27,000, 
and  in  1808  it  was  $45,000.  An  exhibit  for  1864  shows  its  total 
assets  to  be  $562,694  74,  and  the  profits  in  four  years  to  have  been 
$205,285  34.  The  sales  of  books  and  periodicals,  from  1860  to  1863, 
amounted  to  $1,507,873  18.  During  the  same  period  two  hundred 
and  eighty-on  J  new  works  were  issued,  besides  picture  papers,  Sunday- 
school  tracts,  &;c.  Tlie  serial  publications  issued  are  the  Christian 
Advocate  and  Journal^  the  Quarterly  Revievj^  the  Sunday-School  Advo- 
cate^ circulating  nearly  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  copies; 
the  Sunday -School  Teachers'  Journal,  the  Good  News,  circulating  some 
fifty  thousand  copies  monthly  in  the  army  and  navy ;  the  Pacific 
Christian  Advocate,  and   California  Christian  Advocate. 

On  the  separation  of  the  Methodist  Church  into  a  division  North 
a,nd  South,  occasioned  by  difierences  on  the  slavery  question,  tbe 
southern  section  claimed  a  share  of  the  Book  Concern  property  and 
business.  The  claim  was  resisted  by  the  church  North,  and  a  suit 
ensued,  whielx  led  to  a  great  dfeal  of  bad  feeling  in  and  out  of  the 
church,  and,  being  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  church  South.  A  final  settlement 
was  efiected  in  1853,  by  which  the  Book  Concern  agreed  to  pay  to 
the  church  South  $191,000  in  cash,  $40,648  51  in  notes  and  accounts, 
making  $231,648  51.  Expenses  in  suit,  $2,063.  Total,  $233,711  51, 
leaving  the  nominal  capital  $439,798  39. 

Tbe  profits  of  the  Book  Concern  not  only  pays  the  salary  and  ex- 
penses of  the  bishops,  but  dividends  are  appropriated  to  the  benefit 

304 


REV.      BISHOP     EDMUND     S.      JANES,      D.  D. 

of  the  traveling,  supernumerary,  superannuated,  and  worn  out  preach- 
ers, their  wives,  widows,  and  children.  In  consequence  of  the  division 
of  the  property  with  the  church  South,  dividends  were  suspended  in 
1853.  Thej  were  resumed  again  in  1863,  when  a  dividend  of  $-400 
was  made  to  forty  conferences.  A  few  years  since  a  large  purchase 
of  property  was  made  on  Broadway. 

The  report  to  the  General  Conference  in  1872,  shows  that  the 
total  cost  of  the  lots,  building  and  fixtures,  805  Broadway,  was 
$950,356  62 ;  that  portions  of  it  are  rented  out  for  $72,700,  which 
not  onlv  pays  seven  per  cent  on  the  investment,  but  leaves  a  balance 
of  $6,175  04  towards  paying  the  taxes  and  insiirance.  The  sales  for 
the  last  four  j^ears  amounted  to  $2,426,840  42,  on  which  there  was  a 
net  profit  of  $275,140  17,  and,  together  with  income  from  other 
sources,  njade  a  total  income  of  $362,094  67.  But  out  of  this  sum 
were  paid,  by  order  of  the  General  Conference,  for  salaries  and  travel- 
ing expenses  of  the  bishops,  &c.,  $105,413  04,  leaving  the  net  amount 
of  $256,681  63  to  be  added  to  capital.  This  net  capital  aggregated, 
November  30th,  1871,  the  sum  of  $1,055,179  57.  The  real  estate 
owned  by  the  several  Concerns,  East  and  West,  amounts  to  $957,104 
13  ;  the  merchandise,  to  $518,616  12  ;  cash  on  hand,  $75,159  25  ; 
notes  and  accounts,  $305,446.  Total  assets,  $1,850,315  50.  The 
liabilities  are  $735,135  93,  and  the  gross  earnings  from  sales  ai*e  $63,- 
095  92.  The  report  further  presents  a  fair  showing  for  the  various 
publications,  books,  tracts,  magazines,  jjeriodicals,  &c.,  and  concludes 
with  the  statement  that  the  Book  Concern  was  never  in  as  good  con- 
dition for  transacting  business  as  at  the  present  time.  It  has  more 
room,  and  has  increased  the  number  of  its  presses  to  keep  pace  with 
the  demands  for  their  publications. 

Bishop  Janes  has  no  publications  except  pamphlet  sermons,  and 
an  "  Address  to  Class  Leaders."  We  make  the  following  extract 
from  the  last,  showing  the  origin  and  purpose  of  class  leadei's  in  the 
Methodist  Church  : 

"When  Mr.  Wesley,  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  entered  upon  his  wonderful 
ministerial  career,  he  was  so  much  in  sympathy  with  Jesus  when,  by  the  Grace  of 
God,  he  tasted  death  for  every  man,  that  he  felt  and  declared,  '  The  world  is  my 
parish.'  This  with  him  was  a  practical  sentiment.  Hence  his  intense  zeal  in  the 
sacred  office,  his  entire  devotedness  to  it,  the  energy,  patience,  perseverance,  and 
disinterestedness  with  which  he  labored  to  fulfill  it.  So  intent  was  he  on  success  in 
his  work,  that  he  employed  every  auxiliary  which  he  could  command.  And  in  this, 
more  than  anj^thing  else,  is  the  pre-eaninence  of  that  man  of  God  seen — his  tact  and 
talent  in  the  employment  of  others,  in  taking  assistance  whenever  and  wherever  he 

305 


REV.     BISHOP     EDMUND     S.      JANES,     D.  D. 

could  find  it,  using  the  whole  talent  of  the  church  for  the  furtherance  of  the  glorious 
ministerial  enterprise  of  his  heart  and  hands.  As  a  wise  master-builder,  he  knew 
just  what  to  do  with  every  class  of  talent,  just  how  to  dii-ect  and  employ  all  the  life 
and  love,  all  the  intelligence  and  piety  of  the  church  of  which  he  was  an  overseer  ; 
and  hence  in  that  church  which  he  founded  there  is  such  a  division  of  authority, 
responsibility,  and  service,  as  is  found  in  no  other.  In  fulfilling  his  ministry  he 
soon  found  that  the  invitations  to  preach  and  the  opportunities  to  be  useful  wer3 
more  numerous  than  he  could  improve;  consequently  he  employed  fellow-laborers, 
who  devoted  themselves  wholly  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  were  with  him  as- 
sociated pastors  of  the  people.  Very  soon,  such  was  the  progress  of  the  work,  that 
these  openings  became  too  numerous  for  himself  and  his  co-laborers  to  fill.  He 
provided  for  this  lack  by  instituting  a  laj'  ministry,  who,  in  the  absence  of  the  pas- 
tors, should  be  their  representatives,  and  who  should  preach  in  their  stead,  as 
laborers  together  with  them  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  .Tesus  Christ.  The  multiply- 
ing of  appointments  to  preach,  the  enlarging  of  their  siAere,  and  the  circuit  form 
of  their  work,  were  found  to  deprive  the  people  of  appropriate  and  needful  i^astoral 
supervision  and  care.  His  spiritual  genius  at  once  provided  for  this  want,  and  that 
provision  is  found  in  the  office  and  work  of  the  class-leader.  When  the  American 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  organized  this  office  was  appropriately  understood 
and  recognized,  and  class-meetings  were  made  an  integral  and  essential  part  of  our 
ecclesiastical  economy,  and  from  that  day  to  the  present  this  institution  has  been  one 
of  the  developments  of  the  great  power  which  the  church  has  exerted,  and  of  the 
great  success  which  God  has  given  us. 

"From  this  history  of  the  origin  of  class-meetings,  we  learn  that  to  assist  the 
itinerant  minister  i)i  his  pastoral  work  was  the  primary  reason  for  their  institution. 
This  reason  is  a  very  conclusive  and  urgert  one.  Owing  to  the  itinerant  character 
of  our  ministry,  there  is  no  other  way  in  which  our  pastoral  work  can  be  fully  and 
properly  performed.  It  is  necessary  that  the  preacher,  who  comes  as  a  stranger, 
should  have  the  help  of  the  leader  to  introduce  him  at  once  to  his  people,  and  to 
make  known  to  him  their  spiritual  estate.  The  office  is  especially  necessary  that  the 
pastoral  work  may  be  carried  out  in  detail,  that  every  member  may  be  visited  and 
conversed  with  personally  as  freqviently  as  his  spiritual  welfare  requires.  It  is  in- 
disi^ensable  that  we  should  have  this  office,  in  order  that  there  may  be  a  permanent 
pastorate  in  the  church;  a  pastor  whom  the  people  shall  all  know  and  understand, 
and  be  acquainted  with  his  afifection  and  sympathy  for,  and  his  interest  in,  them,  and 
that  in  the  interchange  of  jiastors  there  may  be  no  time  when  there  shall  not  be  in 
the  church  an  appropriate  pastoral  supervision  and  sui^erintendence.  These  iutereiits 
are  all  happily  secured  when  competent  leaders,  as  the  discipline  requires,  '  see  each 
person  in  their  classes  once  a  week  at  least,  in  order — 1st,  to  inquire  how  their  souls 
prosper;  2d,  to  advise,  reprove,  comfort,  or  exhort,  as  occasion  may  require.'  " 

Bishop  Janes  is  a  little  under  the  medium  height,  and  of  a  round, 
well-proportioned  person.  His  head  is  ample  in  size,with  a  high,  broad 
brow,  and  otherwise  unif.  rm  and  intelligent  features.  He  has  gray 
hair,  a  venerable  appearance,  and  a  quiet  though  impressive  dignity. 
His  expression  is  serious  and  severe  in  the  extreme,  and  he  has  a  cold, 
searching  gaze,  but  he  is  nevertheless  a  man  of  kindly  and  generous 
sympathies.  You  judge  him  at  once  to  be  an  original  thinker  and  an 
earnest  worker.    His  mind  is  always  grappling,  always  solving,  always 

iiOO 


HEV.      BISHOP     EDMUND     S.     JANES,     D.  D. 

illuminating  some  Christian  problem,  and  his  energies  are  ever  toil. 
ing,  ever  achieving,  and  ever  pressing  onward  in  the  line  of  his  Epis- 
copal duties.  For  him  rest  and  weariness  of  the  mental  or  physical 
nature  are  almost  impossibilities.  From  youth  up,  throuo-h  the 
course  of  his  self-denying  and  varied  studies,  and  both  as  pastor  and 
bishop,  his  entire  life  has  been  made  up  of  thought  and  effort.  His 
countenance  tells  the  story  of  intellectual  aspirations  and  of  his  iiever- 
faltering  spirit.  It  declares  that  his  yearnings  are  for  intellectual, 
moral,  and  religious  advancement,  and  it  shows  that  decision  and 
sternness  of  purpose  which  seldom  tail  to  secure  success  in  any  plan. 
Intercourse  with  the  bishop  can  only  confirm  this  judgment  of  him 
Gentlemanly  and  courteous,  he  is  always  reserved.  In  his  opinions 
he  is  ever  consistent  and  frank,  and  they  testify  to  sterling  traits  of 
character,  as  well  as  the  largest  intelligence  and  the  most  absorbing 
piety.  He  stands  before  you  the  scholarly  gentleman,  the  serious- 
minded  Christian,  and  one  who  will  teach  you,  by  the  example  of  his 
life,  under  no  circumstances  whatever,  to  weary  of  expanding  and 
adorning  the  mind,  and  purifying  and  redeeming  the  soul. 

Bishop  Janes  is  a  calm,  unassuming  preacher.  His  voice  is  feeble, 
so  much  so,  that  in  an  ordinary  conversation  it  requires  close  attention 
to  hear  what  he  says,  and  in  public  he  speaks  with  evident  labor,  at 
lengthy  intervals,  however,  being  decidedly  animated.  He  has  none 
of  that  declamatory  boisterousness  common  with  Methodist  preachers, 
and  his  whole  delivery  is  thoughtful  and  subdued.  Whether  his  ser- 
mon is  written,  or,  as  is  generally  the  case,  extempore,  it  has  the  same 
features  of  premeditation,  close,  critical  reasoning,  and  devout,  re- 
ligious sentiment. 

807 


REV.  DANIEL  Y.  M.  JOII^^SOI^, 

BKOOTt  iL,YlV 


EV.  DANIEL  y.  M.  JOHNSON  was  born  in  Brooklyn, 
June  7th,  1812.  He  received  an  academic  education, 
and  was  gi'aduated  at  the  Episcopal  General  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York,  in  1835,  He  was  ordained  dea- 
con in  the  same  year,  and  priest  in  1836.  After  a  short 
period  at  Trinity,  now  St  Luke's  Church,  Brooklyn,  he  went 
to  the  west,  where  he  officiated,  until  ill-health  obliged  his  return  to 
his  native  city.  In  the  fall  of  1842  he  became  rector  of  St.  John's 
Chureh,  Islip,  Long  Island,  and  thus  continued  for  nearly  five  years. 
lie  v/as  next  called  to  the  Holy  Comforter,  floating  chapel.  New 
York,  and,  after  a  service  of"  nine  years  to  the  parish  of  St.  Maiy's, 
Brooklyn,  founded  by  himself  long  previously  as  a  free  church.  A 
new  edifice  was  completed  in  1859,  on  a  new  site  on  Classon  avenue, 
the  whole  property  costing  $30,000.  The  congregation  is  composed 
of  over  two  hundred  families  and  three  hundred  communicants. 

Mr.  Johnson  has  always  declined  to  have  any  of  his  sermons 
pubiislied,  and  reprehends  the  practice.  In  this  matter  he  seems  to 
run  counter  to  the  generally  entertained  impression  that  good  seed 
cannot  be  too  widely  scattered. 

He  is  a  person  under  the  medium  height,  of  a  well-knit  frame 
and  somewhat  muscular  appearance.  In  early  life  he  suffered  the 
loss  of  an  eye,  which,  however,  is  not  much  noticed,  as  he  wears  spec- 
tacles. His  face  has  a  pleasant,  though  decided  expression.  It  is 
readily  to  be  seen  that  he  is  a  strict,  conscientious  man,  and  one 
never  given  to  frivolity,  and  scarcely  to  smiles.  His  head  bespeaks 
a  practical  rather  than  a  keen  or  brilliant  mind.  As  iar  as  every- 
day affairs  are  concerned;  as  far  as  his  judgment  is  called  into  exer- 
cise in  regard  to  the  common-sense  rules  of  duty ;  as  far  as  culture 
may  be  turned  to  account  in  a  plain,  methodical  way,  he  is  a  man 
of  great  value  to  his  congregation  and  friends.     In  these  particulars 

BUS 


EEV.      DANIEL     V.      M.      JOHNSON. 

oe  never  makes  a  mistake,  and  those  who  have  enjoyed  his  counsel 
in  times  of  affliction,  when  the  judgment  was  at  fault,  when  the  road 
of  duty  was  not  clear,  and  when  the  common  sense  of  theology  was 
sought  for,  have  found  him  a  rare  and  experienced  guide. 

Mr.  Johnson's  life  has  been  very  remarkable  for  constant  and 
severe  labor  in  his  profession.  Under  manifold  and  the  most  dis- 
couraging difficulties,  he  has  steadily  pursued  his  work  of  devotion 
and  faith.  He  has  been  in  poor  parishes — among  the  sailors,  and  at 
times  pressed  upon  by  a  weight  of  discouragement,  in  reference  to 
all  concerning  him,  that  few  could  have  supported.  But,  witl;  a  sole 
and  confident  reliance  on  the  promises  of  his  religion,  he  has  breasted 
every  storm  and  surmounted  thickening  difficulties,  ever  standing  a 
noble  example  to  his  fellow  Christians.  Without  question  this 
toiling,  suffering,  faithful  life  is  the  true  evidence  of  the  Master's 
spirit.  It  is  the  humble  and  retired  walks  of  Christian  usefulness, 
the  seeking  of  new  fields,  and  the  ingathering  of  the  lowly  that  ex- 
hibit the  highest  traits  of  the  sanctified  man. 

Consider  for  a  moment  a  picture  of  one  of  the  classes  of  clergy- 
men. He  is  prayerful,  patient,  and  poor.  He  asks  little  of  Provi- 
dence ;  and  would  be  satisfied  with  less  than  he  gets.  He  vs^ears 
shabby  clothing,  and  he  reduces  his  family  expenses  down  to  the 
lowest  figure,  and  saves  something  for  those  worse  off  than  himself 
Early  in  the  morning  and  late  into  the  night  he  is  occupied  with 
study,  prayer,  or  some  duty  in  the  cause  of  sinners.  He  preaches 
not  only  in  his  own  church,  but  for  the  feeble  organizations  round 
about ;  he  goes  among  the  Sabbath  schools  Vtuth  books,  and  he  is 
constantly  originating  new  phms  for  the  enlargement  of  his  own 
work  and  the  benefit  of  the  church.  He  never  falters ;  he  never 
complains ;  he  never  stops  the  moral  plow  to  which  he  has  set  his 
hand.  A  large  family  grow  up  about  him,  and  if  he  has  one  desire 
above  another  it  is  to  educate  his  children  and  make  them  useful 
members  of  society.  Worn  down  with  his  severe  labors,  perhaps 
actually  prostrated  by  ill-health,  he  finds  difficulties  and  disappoint- 
ments pursue  his  steps,  and  at  times  sorrow  and  gloom  seem  to  have 
overwhelmed  him.  But  in  the  darkest  hour  he  beholds  the  face  of 
his  God  shining  upon  him,  and  when  his  fellow-men,  knowing  his 
situation,  expect  him  to  faint  and  despair,  he  is  sustained  by  an 
anchor  and  enccmraged  by  an  inspiration  which  come  from  above. 
He  struggles  on ;  he  keeps  busy  in  the  same  heroic  labor  of  Christian 

love,  only  to  close  his  efforts  with  his  pure,  martyr-like  life. 

soy 


REV.     DANIEL     V.     M.     JOHNSON". 

This  picture  is  a  just  representation  of  Mr.  Johnson.  Ha])pi]y 
he  has  been  successful  in  his  work ;  and  now,  in  the  descending  road 
of  life,  he  finds  himself  at  the  summit  of  his  ambition.  It  is  not  to 
labor  less,  not  to  repose  on  laurels  obtained,  not  to  think  that  there 
is  anything  less  of  patience  and  toil.  But  it  is  that  he  has  been  able 
to  gather  a  congregation  who  esteem  his  labors,  and  who  have  sta- 
tioned him  in  a  temple  forever  free  to  all.  In  a  distant  part  of  the 
city,  in  a  field  which  he  has  diligently  cultivated  through  years  of 
barrenness,  he  may  well  appreciate  the  fruit  of  which  he  is  the 
husbandman. 

Mr.  Johnson  preaches  a  plain,  solid  sermon.  He  has  drawn 
about  him  a  class  of  people  who  want  the  truth  in  its  plainest  dress  ; 
and  he  never  disappoints  them.  Dealing  much  in  common-place 
ideas,  and  following  very  strictlv  the  beaten  path  laid  out  by  the 
learned  of  the  church,  with  very  little  that  is  original,  he  preaches  a 
sermon  abounding  in  common-sense  argument  and  religious  counsel. 
His  voice  is  somewhat  harsh.  He  reads  effectively,  and  at  times 
shows  considerable  animation.  This  animation,  however,  is  with  no 
idea  of  display,  but  comes  from  earnestness  of  personal  conviction 
and  feeling. 

If  in  the  bywajs  of  Brooklyn  there  is  a  poor  sinner  seeking  an 
altar  free  to  all  comers,  and  a  preacher  wholly  devoted  to  the  salva 
tion  of  souls,  let  him  or  her  attend  Mr.  Johnson's  ministrations. 

310 


REV.  DAYID  B.  JUTTEK,  A.  M., 

I»A.©T011   OF"  THE  ISIXTEEIVTH   STREET  I3JLi»TIST 
CIIUKCH,    ]VEAV    YOKIt. 


EY.  DAYID  B.  JUTTEN,  A.  M.,  was  born  in  'Rew 
York,  January  7th,  1844.  After  attending  different 
public  schools  of  the  city,  he  went  to  Madison  Uni- 
versity, at  Hamilton,  New  York,  where  he  was  graduated 
1867.  He  then  took  a  theological  course  in  the  same  in- 
stitution, which  was  completed  in  1870.  While  at  the  Uni- 
versity he  took  temporary  charge  of  a  church  in  Central  New 
York,  and  after  graduation  went  for  a  short  time  to  one  in  New 
Jersey.  At  the  last  named  period  his  health  was  not  good,  and  he 
was  .seeking  its  restoration.  During  1870  he  was  called  to  the  E 
Street  Baptist  Church,  Washington  City,  where  he  remained  three 
years.  Having  accepted  a  call  to  the  Sixteenth  Street  Church,  New 
York,  as  the  successor  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  William  S.  Mikels,  he  was 
installed  on  the  last  Sunday  in  June,  1873. 

The  Sixteenth  Street  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  October, 
1833,  with  eighteen  members,  of  whom  ten  were  females  and  eight 
males.  The  first  preaching  was  in  a  hall  in  Eighteenth  street,  and 
Rev.  David  Bernard  was  called  as  the  first  pastor.  Rev.  Dr.  Alonzo 
Wheelock  was  with  the  congregation  nearly  seven  years,  and  Rev. 
J.  W.  Taggart  about  eight  years.  Dr.  Mikels  was  the  next  pastor, 
and  thus  remained  for  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  until  May,  1873, 
when  impaired  health  obliged  him  to  resign. 

Two  pastors  have  temporarily  supplied  the  pulpit,  one  of  whom 
was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hodge,  a  noted  name  in  the  Baptist  denomination. 
In  1839  a  new  church  edifice  was  built  in  Sixteenth  street,  near 
Eighth  avenue,  which  was  greatly  enlarged  in  1857,  at  a  cost  of  some 
fourteen  thousand  dollars.  The  members  now  number  between  seven 
and  eight  hundred  persons.     The  regular  Sunday  school  has  five 

311 


REV.     DAVID    B.    JUTTEN,     A.M. 

hundred  scholars  and  sixty  officers  and  teachers,  an(.]  a  Mission  school 
has  been  established  in  Hudson  street. 

Mr.  Jutten  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  equally  proportioned. 
His  head  is  of  good  size  and  form,  v/hile  the  face  is  expressive  of  an 
amiable  character.  His  greeting  to  all  is  frank  and  sincere.  A  very 
short  acquaintance  with  him  shows  him  to  you  as  he  will  always  be 
found.  He  is  plain,  matter-of-fact,  and  honest  in  all  that  he  says  and 
does,  making  no  pretensions  in  any  particular,  but  quickly  proving 
himself  to  you,  in  both  mind  and  conduct,  to  be  a  man  of  the  most 
commendable  qualities.  Calm  and  self-possessed  in  his  nature,  he  is 
one  who  never  hesitates  in  the  line  of  his  duty,  nor  is  he  ever  at  a 
loss  to  know  exactly  what  it  is.  Socially  there  can  be  no  person 
more  agreeable  and  more  interesting  with  the  young  and  old,  and  in 
his  public  character  there  is  the  same  adaptability  and  harmony  of 
the  individual  with  his  position, 

Mr.  Jutten  is  by  no  means  a  fanatic  or  bigot,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  is  a  clergyman  of  very  deep  and  earnest  religious  convictions. 
His  own  life  is  measured  by  strict  and  conscientious  rules  of  personal 
action,  and  he  seek  through  it,  and  by  his  teachings  in  the  pulpit, 
and  out  of  it,  to  illustrate,  not  only  the  necessity  for  the  religious 
culture  of  every  person,  but  the  pleasure  and  profit  in  it.  Thus  im- 
pressed, he  preaches  with  peculiar  force  and  pathos.  He  does  not 
seem  to  be  desirous  of  making  any  display  of  his  own  talents,  but  he 
prayerfully  and  earnestly  calls  to  the  unconverted  to  be  saved,  and 
upon  all  to  look  closely  to  the  acts  of  every  hour  of  their  existence. 
He  argues  with  a  great  deal  of  power,  for  his  scholarly  ability  is  by 
no  means  limited,  and  his  eloquence,  though  calm  and  modest,  is 
very  effective.  Hence,  in  the  Bev.  David  B.  Jutten,  the  Baptist 
ministry  has  a  most  devoted  and  efficient  representative,  and  the 
community  at  large  one  of  its  strong  champions  against  evil. 

313 


.^^^ 


tiO' 


iH^"' 


—  ,  -'s  cScJi^ 


^^<v   ^:^^< 


^^^ 


'-^-i^'ci^ 


^^--^^^^ 


REV.   JOSEPH   KIMBALL,  D.D., 

PA^f^iiTOK     OF     THE     FIRST    ItEFORlMED    CHXJllCH, 


EV.  DR.  JOSEPH  KIMBALL  was  horn  at  Newburgh, 
New  York,  August  lOtb,  1820.  His  academic  coarse 
was  pursued  at  his  native  place.  He  was  graduated  at 
Union  College  in  1839,  and  in  theology  at  the  Associate 
Reformed  Seminary  in  1844.  He  was  ordained  in  thp  latter 
year,  and  first  settled  at  Hamptonburgh,  Orange  County,  New 
York,  where  he  remained  eight  years.  After  this  he  went  to  a  charch 
in  Washington  county,  where  he  continued  two  years  and  a  half,  and 
then  to  a  I'resbyterian  Church  at  Brockport,  New  York,  over  which 
he  officiated  for  seven  years.  He  next  accepted  a  call  to  the  Fishkill 
Reformed  (then  Dutch)  Church,  where  he  labored  for  two  years  and 
a  half,  and  was  thence  called  to  his  present  field,  the  First  Reformed 
Church  of  Brooklyn,  where  he  was  installed  November  21st.  1865. 

The  organization  of  the  First  Reformed  Church  dates  as  far  back 
as  when  the  colony  was  under  the  Dutch  regime.  The  records  show 
that  two  hnndred  and  nineteen  years  ago,  in  the  year  1654,  Gover- 
nor Stuj^vesant,  then  little  less  than  the  omnipotent  ruler  of  the  colony, 
ordered  the  inhabitants  of  Flatbush,  Brooklyn,  and  Flatlands,  to  pre- 
pare timber  and  materials  to  build  a  church  at  Flatbush — which  was 
the  county  town.  On  the  6th  of  August,  1655,  the  scout  (Sheriff): 
was  ordered  to  convene  the  inhabitants  of  the  county,  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  whether  they  would  approve  of  the  Rev.  Johannis 
Polhemus  as  their  minister,  and  what  salary  they  would  pa}^  him.  It 
appears  that  the  people  approved  of  Mr.  Polhemus,  and  agreed  to  jjay 
him  one  thousand  and  forty  guilders  ($416)  per  year.  The  churches 
of  Flatbush,  Brooklyn,  and  Flatlands  were  known  as  collegiate 
churches — the  appointed  minister  making  a  circuit  of  them  from  Sab- 
bath to  Sabbath.  In  1785  the  Dutch  church  at  Gravesend  became 
one  of  the  collegiate  churches.  The  union  of  the  churches- termi  na- 
ted  in  1787  by  the  Flatbush  church  calling  a  minister  of  their  own. 

313 


REV.     JOSEPH     KIMBALL.     D.  D- 

Brooklyn  certainly  had  a  clmrcli  edifice  before  the  first  church  was 
built  at  Flatbush,  and  probably  a  parsonage  also,  but  where  they 
were  situated  is  unknown.  The  first  church  of  which  there  is  a  dis- 
tinct record  was  built  in  1666,  on  the  public  road,  and  rebuilt  in  1766. 
The  site  was  adjacent  to  the  present  location  of  the  edifice  of  the  first 
Church  on  Joralemon  street.  There  were  no  other  churches  in  the 
county  of  Kings  than  the  Reformed  Dutch  churches  before  the  year 
1785.  In  that  year  a  dissenting  Episcopal  clergyman  gathered  a  few 
hearers,  Avhich  subsequently  foi-med  the  nucleus  of  the  first  Episcopal 
congregation  in  Brooklyn.  The  Dutch  churches  supported  all  the 
poor  of  the  county  until  the  year  1784.  The  English  governors  were 
not  favorably  disposed  toward  either  the  Dutch  churches  or  people. 
In  1694,  Governor  Fletcher  attempted  to  throw  the  support  of  the 
Episcopal  church  upon  the  whole  colony,  but  the  House  of  Assembly 
refused  to  concur  with  him,  which  ofi'ended  his  excellency.  Liord 
Cornbury  became  governor  in  1702.  He  was  the  vilest  governor  who 
ever  ruled  in  America ;  a  church  robber,  and  a  persecutor  of  the  Dutch 
the  Presbyterians,  and  the  French  colonists.  Among  his  infamous 
proceedings  was  the  imprisonment  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  who 
attempted  to  preach  in  the  city  of  New  York  without  his  license,  and 
the  denouncing  of  the  Dutch  for  offering  these  men  the  use  of  their 
church. 

The  First  congregation  was  largely  made  up  of  the  old  Dutch  fam- 
ilies of  Long  Island,  and  for  many  years  sheds  were  provided  for 
those  who  came  a  long  distance  with  their  carriages.  All  the  fine 
church  buildings  now  in  the  vicinity,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  city  improve- 
ments of  that  busy  and  elegant  portion  of  the  citj',  have  risen  in  the 
fields  with  which  the  First  church  was  for  so  long  a  period  surrounded. 
The  congregation  for  many  years  was  in  charge  of  the  late  esteemed 
Rev.  Dr.  Dwight.  In  I860,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Willets,  of  Philadelphia, 
was  called,  who  remained  several  years,  and  was  succeeded,  after  an 
interval  of  about  six  months,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Kimball. 

Dr.  Kimball  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Rutgers  College,  at 
New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  in  1866.  His  publications  consist  of 
various  occasional  sermons. 

Dr.  Kimball  is  about  of  the  medium  height  and  equally  propor- 
tioned. He  goes  with  active,  quick  steps,  and  whatever  he  does  is 
done  rather  impulsively.  His  head  is  of  the  avei-age  size,  with  regu- 
lar features,  which  show  him  to  be  a  person  of  very  amiable  charac- 
teristics.    His  complexion  is  fair,  with  luminous  eyes,  which  impart 

314 


REV.     JOSEPH     KIMBALL,     D.  D. 

their  bright  beams  to  his  whole  countenance.  While  he  is  not  with- 
out dignity,  he  is  so  affable  and  courteous  that  it  places  no  reserve 
upon  the  intercourse  of  any  one  with  him.  His  taste  and  disposition 
in  all  things  lead  him  to  prefer  simplicity  and  frankness  of  character, 
and  he  exemplifies  them  in  his  conduct  on  all  occasions. 

Dr.  Kimball's  sermons  are  beautiful  compositions,  and  while  they 
do  not  lack  in  scholarship,  this  is  not  their  distinguishing  excellence. 
Their  great  peculiarity  is  the  strong  and  cheerful  religious  faith  with 
which  they  abound,  and  the  affecting  pathos  with  which  the  appeal 
is  made  to  the  feelings.  He  touches  the  springs  of  the  heart's  emo- 
tions as  delicately,  while  as  potently,  as  ever  an  enchanter  touched 
with  his  wand,  and  he  draws  them  forth  in  overwhelming  floods.  His 
power  is  in  a  soft  musical  voice,  in  his  happy  selection  of  language, 
and  in  his  knowledge  of  the  human  cliaracter  and  heart. 

There  is  genuine  refreshment  for  mind  and  heart  in  the  sermons  of 
Dr.  Kimball.  You  are  not  startled  b}^  those  intellectual  thunderings 
which  characterized  the  sensational  pulpit  orators,  nor  are  you  fascin- 
ated by  the  flowery  imagery  of  the  sentimental  preachers,  but  you 
are  interested  by  the  forcible  statement  of  serious  truths,  and  charmed 
and  melted  by  the  affectionate  and  appropriate  language  which  is 
employed.  The  most  sluggish  mind  awakens  and  expands  under 
such  teachings,  and  the  heart,  be  it  of  stone,  softens  and  yearns  for 
better  things  under  such  appeals.  Nothing  that  is  said  appears  to  be 
intended  for  profundity,  or  even  eloquence,  but  it  seems  like  words 
in  good  season  spoken  by  a  competent  and  friendly  counselor.  There 
is  a  pathetic  style  of  preaching  which  lias  no  pretension  whatever  to 
either  learning  or  logic.  Dr.  Kimball's  stjde  differs  entirely  from 
this,  for,  while  it  is  tender  and  full  of  emotional  passages,  it  is  alto- 
gether powerful  in  thought.  He  speaks  as  a  scholar  and  thorough 
student  of  the  Scriptures,  and  at  the  same  time  with  a  heart  overflow- 
ing witli  tenderness. 

Dr.  Kimball  is  always  to  be  found  treading  quietly  and  faithfully 
in  the  paths  of  pastoral  duty,  rather  than  seeking  public  notice.  He 
has  attained  a  high  rank  in  the  Presbyterian  and  Eeformed  denom- 
inations for  his  talents,  and  he  has  now  the  first  place  in  public  re- 
gard; but  all  this  has  been  quite  unsought  by  him,  for  his  incessant 
energies  have  been  devoted  to  the  practical  work  of  the  ministry  and 
not  at  all  to  schemes  of  ambition.  He  is  unselfish  and  unthinking  of 
fame  ;  but  his  noble  and  consistent  action  in  all  spheres  of  duty  has 
naturally  given  him  great  social  and  public  influence. 

315 


REV.  G.  FREDERICK  KROTEL,  D.  1)., 

p^vsTOTt,  OF  the:  i^xjtiieiia.]V  church  of  thi: 

IIOJ^Y    TKIIVITY,     IVEITV    YOIlIt. 


EV.  DR.  G.  FREDERICK  KROTEL  was  bora  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  Febrnary  4th, 
1826.  His  parents  emigi-ated  to  this  country  when  he 
^^^^^^^  was  four  years  of  age,  and  took  up  their  abode  in  Phila- 
^w  delphia,  where  he  passed  most  of  his  life.  He  was  graduated 
Ss  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  in  1846,  and 
pursued  a  private  theological  course  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Denne. 
He  entered  the  ministry  in  1848,  in  connection  with  the  Lutheran 
Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  installed  over  a  small  congregation 
in  the  suburbs  of  Philadelphia,  where  he  remained  one  year.  He 
next  went  to  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  to  the  Salem  Church,  where  he 
officiated  until  1853.  After  this  he  went  to  Trinity  Church,  Lan- 
caster, where  he  labored  until  the  close  of  1861,  when  he  accepted  a 
call  to  St.  Mark's  Church,  Philadelphia.  In  April,  1868,  he  com- 
menced his  duties  as  pastor  of  his  present  congregation,  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutlieran  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

This  congregation  is  a  new  Lutheran  organization,  which  was 
founded  b}^  Dr.  Krotel  at  the  period  named.  It  grew  out  of  the 
different  Lutheran  congregations  then  in  existence  in  New  York,  and 
mainly  out  of  St.  James'  Lutheran  church.  All  the  Lutheran  con- 
gregations in  this  city,  except  Holy  Trinity  and  St.  James'  are  Ger- 
man, and  tlie  preaching  is  in  that  language.  St.  James'  Church  is 
on  the  east  side  of  the  city,  and  it  was  thought  necessary  to  have  an 
English  Lutheran  church  on  tlie  west  side,  and  in  accordance  with 
this  view  the  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  established.  IMie 
church  edifice  occupied  by  the  Reformed  congregation  under  tlie  care 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  R.  Tliompson,  in  Twentieth  street,  near  Sixth 
avenue,  was  leased  for  one  year,  and  regular  services  commenced. 
The  congregation  purchased  this  chui-ch  for  about  sixty  thousand 
dollars.     The  church  began  with  eighty  members,  and  there  has  been 

316 


REV.      G.      FREDERICK     KROTEL,     D.  D. 

a  satisfactory  increase.  The  Sunday  school  has  two  hundred 
scholars. 

Dr.  Krotel  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  about  1865.  He  is  the  author  of  a  translation  of  the 
''Life  of  Philip  Melancthon;"  of  a  volume  on  the  "Beatitudes,"  and 
other  smaller  works. 

He  is  slightly  under  the  medium  height,  with  a  compact,  well- 
proportioned  figure.  His  head  is  of  more  than  the  average  size,  with 
large  fentures.  His  complexion  is  light,  with  an  inclination  to  sallow- 
ness.  He  has  a  prominent  brow,  clear  intelligent  eyes,  and  altogether 
one  of  those  calm  good  faces  which  win  regard.  While  his  manners 
show  a  great  deal  of  modesty,  he  is  a  man  who  maintains  himself 
with  dignity  and  propriety  on  all  occasions.  He  is  courteous,  and 
has  that  fluent  and  happy  power  of  conversation  which  renders  iiim 
a  most  agreeable  social  companion.  His  mind  is  of  the  serious  re- 
flective kind,  and  he  is  always  much  absorbed  in  his  studies;  but  at 
the  same  time  there  are  few  men  who  have  more  cheerfulness  and 
geniality  in  personal  intercourse.  There  is  an  invariable  warmth  in 
his  greeting  with  all  persons,  and  his  friendship  is  tender  and  lasting. 

Dr.  Krotel  is  a  very  sedate,  serious  kind  of  preacher.  It  has 
never  been  the  practice  of  his  denomination  to  encourage  or  tolerate 
anything  else.  They  go  to  their  churches  to  worship,  and  not  merely 
to  "  assist "  at  an  ostentatious  display  of  pulpit  oratory.  Their 
pastors  are  never  vain  persons,  seeking  the  ends  of  personal  ambition, 
but  godi}^  men,  preaching  Christ  and  Him  crucified. 

Dr.  Krotel  expounds  the  Scriptures  with  a  thoroughness  of  learn- 
ing, and  a  keen  and  logical  style  of  argument,  which  arrest  undivided 
attention.  His  language  is  very  plain  and  matter-of-fact,  but  it  is 
completely  to  the  point  and  full  of  force.  His  arguments  cover  the 
whole  ground,  and  they  are  not  only  learned,  but  clear  and  fair  ex- 
planations of  the  subject.  He  afibrds  instruction  at  the  same  time 
that  he  touches  the  tender  emotions  and  spurs  the  mind  and  heart  to 
heavenly  aspirations.  In  a  word,  he  is  a  sound,  reliable,  pious  man, 
who  bends  the  whole  energies  of  his  nature  and  talents  to  the  salva- 
tion of  mankind. 

Dr.  Ki'otel  considers  the  national  distinctions,  especially  in  regard 
to  the  preaching  in  the  German  language,  which  have  prevailed  in 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  United  States,  as  a  fatal  obstacle  to  its 
progress  among  the  masses.  Hence  he  is  directing  his  labors  to  the 
removal  of  these  barriers.     He  seeks  to  draw  into  his  new  organiza- 

317 


REV.      G.      FREDERICK     KROTEL,     D.  D. 

tion  not  particularly  tlie  Grerman,  or  the  men  or  women  of  any  par- 
ticular nationality,  but  all  who  are  willing  to  accept  the  principles 
of  faith  of  the  Keformed  church.  It  n;  ust  not  be  supposed  that  his 
effort  to  Anglicize  the  Lutheran  Church  is  willingly  acquiesced  in  by 
all  its  preachers  and  people.  On  tlie  contrary,  it  is  strenuously  re- 
sisted in  man}^  quarters  b}^  those  who  cling  to  the  language  of  the 
fatherland. 

Dr.  Krotel  has  every  requisite  in  talents  and  energy  for  his  work. 
In  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it  he  has  those  characteristics  which  are 
always  effective  agents  in  securing  popular  favor.  He  is  able  not 
only  to  declaim  but  to  teach ;  and  in  all  his  personal  relations  he  is 
one  who  practices  his  own  precepts.  His  religious  d.uties,  and  the 
welfare  of  those  committed  to  his  spiritual  charge,  form  the  chief 
subject  of  his  thoughts.  He  is  consistent,  pious,  and  faithful,  and  is 
not  less  a  guide  to  the  people  than  an  example  to  his  professional 
brethren. 

318 


KEY.  FRANCIS  E.  LAWRENCE,  D.  D., 

IIECTOR      or"      THE      CIIUKCri      OF      THE      IIOEY 

<::om:3i:xj]vio]v,  (Emscop^l),    ivew  yoiik:. 


EV.  DR.  FRANCIS  E.  LAWRENCE  was  born  in  the 

1^    villfige  of  Flushing,  Long  Island,  May  12th,   1827.     He 

was  graduated  at  St.   Paul's  College,  at  that  place,  in 

PiSr  ""  18-18,  and  at  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Semin- 
ary, New  York,  in  1852.  He  was  made  a  deacon  of  the  Epis- 
copal Churcli  at  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  New  York, 
by  Bishop  Chase,  of  New  Hampshire,  in  the  same  j^ear,  and  priest  at 
Trinit}'  Church,  by  Bishop  Wainright,  in  1853.  At"tiie  close  of  his 
seminary  course  he  became  assistant  of  Dr.  William  A.  Muhlenberg, 
at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  afterward  associate  rector, 
and  on  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Muhlenberg,  in  1859,  sole  rector  of  the 
parish,  and  is  still  in  charge.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from 
Trinity  College,  in  1869. 

The  Free  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion  was  founded  by  Dr. 
Muhlenberg  in  1846.  The  buildings  were" erected  by  Mrs.  A.  C. 
Rogers,  a  sister  of  Dr.  Muhlenberg,  as  a  memorial  of  her  deceased 
husband.  The  church  was  consecrated  in  December,  1846,  by  Bishop 
Ives,  then  of  North  Carolina,  but  later  a  proselyte  to  the  Catholic 
faith.  The  site,  on  the  corner  of  Sixth  avenue  and  Twentieth  street, 
is  one  of  the  most  eligible  in  the  city,  and  the  whole  property  is  now 
valued  at  almost  eighty  thousand  dollars.  Adjoining  the  church  on 
Sixth  avenue  an  edifice  was  erected  by  the  liberality  of  John  H. 
Swift,  Esq.,  which  is  occupied  as  a  free  school  for  the  poor  of  the 
church,  and  is  under  the  charge  of  an  Episcopal  sisterhood,  known  as 
the  "  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Communion."  This  sisterhood  was  founded 
by  Dr.  Muhlenberg,  and  now  consists  of  some  twelve  persons.  They 
have  also  charge  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  of  which  Dr.  Muhlenberg  is 
the  superintendent  and  pastor.  The  church  of  the  Holy  Communion 
has  about  four  hundred  and  fifty    communicants,  and  the  Sunday 

School  has  three  hundred  and  fifty  children.     The  day  school  has 

319 


EEV.      FRANCIS     E.     LAWRENCE,     D.  D. 

sixty  children.  Two  religions  services  are  held  daily,  and  the  com- 
munion is  administered  weekly.  The  parish  is  large,  and  is  in  a  most 
prosperous  condition. 

Dr.  Lawrence  is  under  the  medium  height,  well  proportioned,  and 
an  active,  energetic  sort  of  person.  He  has  a  round  head,  sandy 
complexion,  and  a  countenance  which  betokens  intelligence  and  am- 
iable qualities  of  character.  His  manners  are  entirely  plain  and  un- 
assuming, while  characterized  by  a  great  deal  of  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness. 

He  has  been  brought  up  in  a  strict  school  of  religious  discipline, 
as  a  pj'ote.ge  of  th  3  venerable  and  pious  Muhlenberg.  Devoting  him- 
self to  the  church  has  been  to  abandon  the  world.  With  him,  his 
induction  into  the  holy  offices  of  the  church  was  that  he  should  yield 
himself  whollj?  to  spiritual  duties.  He  is  a  priest  of  the  Most  High, 
and  always  engaged  in  labors  which  belong  to  his  spiritual  position. 
His  church  is  open  twice  every  day,  and  he  stands  at  its  altar  dis- 
pensing the  word  of  the  Lord.  Works  of  daily  charity,  efforts  iji  the 
cause  of  education  and  in  the  propagation  of  the  iaith  of  his  church, 
are  the  duties  to  which  he  esteems  himself  called.  He  has  no  com- 
mission to  meddle  in  secular  matters,  to  expound  on  politics,  or  at- 
tack public  measures  or  men.  He  might  make  a  great  deal  more 
noise  in  the  world,  as  others  have  done,  if  he  changed  his  attitude  in 
these  particulars,  but  he  will  not  do  it.  He  will  not  do  it,  because 
he  belongs,  like  his  illustrious  guide  and  example  in  the  priesthood, 
to  those  who  discipline  themselves  to  the  spiritiMl  life  as  the  only  one 
projDcr  in  the  clergyman. 

Dr.  Lawrence  is  a  very  good  speaker,  but  not  in  any  sense  a  showy 
one.  He  makes  everything  clear  to  the  hearer.  He  argues  his  case 
closely,  and  at  all  times  there  is  the  most  complete  evidence  of  sin- 
cerity and  a  devout  appreciation  of  his  holy  theme.  He  does  not 
present  himself  as  an  orator,  and  he  avoids  every  word,  attitude,  and 
gesture  which  can  give  any  especial  pi-ominence  to  himself  in  the 
mind  of  the  listener.  Here  again  he  shows  how  fully  he  has  given 
himself  to  the  spiritual  character.  His  part  in  all  the  services  of  the 
sanctuary  is  performed  as  a  priest,  inspired  in  and  by  the  discharge 
of  holy  functions.  He  not  only  feels  his  responsibility,  but  the 
sacred  dignity  of  the  position.  He  shows  that  he  considers  the  altar 
and  the  pulpit  a  more  sacred  place  than  the  usual  haunts  of  men,  and 
he  leads  in  the  worship  of  fallen  mortals   offered   to   a  forbearing 

God.     It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  describe  this  condition  of  mind  or  of 

320 


EEV.      FRANCIS     E.      LAWRENCE,     D.  D. 

scene.  It  is  a  matter  which  appeals  more  especial!}'  to  the  personal 
emotions.  Hence,  when  3^011  go  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Com- 
muuiou  you  are  likely  to  feel  the  wondei-ful  impress! veness  of  this 
clergyman,  who  officiates  with  such  a  perfect  understanding  of  the 
proprieties  and  dignity  of  I'eligious  services. 

With  his  parishioners  Dr.  Lawrence  is  a  most  popular  man.  He 
is  regarded  as  theii  friend  and  spiritual  guide,  with  that  trustfulness 
which  is  founded  in  mutual  love.  He  has  a  vast  experience  in  the 
qualities  of  the  human  heart,  and  he  seldom  fails  in  adopting  the 
best  mode  to  secure  the  respect  and  confidence  of  those  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact.  With  children  he  is  equally  successful ;  indeed, 
with  these,  his  amiable,  cheerfiil  traits  win  from  them  the  most  ardent, 
response  to  his  own  friendship  and  love. 

It  is  pleasant  to  turn  to  one  who  is  so  pre-eminently  the  humble- 
minded  Christian  in  all  his  walks.  Fame  may  not  elevate  him  so 
speedily — and  perhaps  not  at  all — to  one  of  her  niches  ;  but  he  will 
always  have  the  respect  of  the  right-thinking  and  the  inestimable  re- 
ward of  his  own  conscience. 

321 


MGHT  MY.  A.  N.  LITTLEJOHN,  D.D., 

BISHOI*    OF    THE    OIOCESE    OF    3L.01VG   ISX^A^JifD. 


;IGHT  EEV.  A.  N.  LITTLE  JOHN,  D.  D.,  Bishop 
of  the  Diocese  of  Long  Island,  was  born  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  Now  York,  December  13th.  1824. 
He  was  graduated  at  Union  College  iu  1845,  and  was 
ordained  a  Deacon  of  the  Episcopal  Church  Alarch  18th, 
1848.  He  officiated  at  St.  Ann's  Church,  Amsterdam, 
New  York,  and  at  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Meriden,  Connec- 
ticut, for  a  period  of  nearly  two  years,  and  was  ordaineil  to  the 
priesthood  in  November,  1850,  soon  after  entering  upon  the  rector- 
ship of  Christ  Church,  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  After  a  ministry 
there  of  a  little  more  than  one  year,  he  was  called  to  St.  Paul's 
Church,  New  Haven  ;  and  thence,  after  a  service  of  nine  years,  to 
the  rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  corner  of  Clinton 
and  Montague  streets,  Brooklyn.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  important  parishes  of  that  city.  Through  the  efforts  of  Dr. 
Littlejohn,  a  large  amount  of  money  was  raised  toward  paying  the 
debt  of  the  Church.  The  contributions  during  the  year  1863  were 
nearly  twenty-seven  thousand  dollars.  In  January  of  the  same  year 
over  twenty  thousand  dollars  were  laid  uj^on  the  altar  at  one  time 
for  the  reduction  of  the  debt. 

After  a  highly  popular  ministry  of  about  eight  years  in  this  parish, 
Dr.  Littlejohn  was  elected  Bishop  of  the  newly  created  diocese  of 
Long  Island.  His  consecration  took  place  at  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  January  27th,  1869. 

He  is  recognized  as  most  efficient  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties 
and  is  justly  admired   and   beloved    throughout  his  diocese.     Tlie 
Episcopalians   of  Long  Island   Diocese    report   sixty-five  resident 
ministers,  eighty-two  churches,  10,519  communicants,  and  1,502  Sun- 
day-school teachers  and  7,000  scholars. 

In  1854,  Dr.  Littlejohn  delivered,  in  Philadelphia,  the  first 
of  a  series  of  discourses  by  various  bishops  and  clergymen  on  the 

a22 


<^ 


^^^^/yUD 


■       A.     JSr.     LITTLEJOHN"     D.    D. 

"  Evidences  of  Christianity."  The  series  was  subsequently  pnb- 
lisbed,  with  an  able  introduction  by  Bishop  Potter,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Dr.  Littlejohn's  sermon  was  recognized  as  pre-eminently  pow- 
erful in  thought  and  logic,  and  obtained  for  liim  the  degi'ee  of  D.  D. 
from  tbe  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1856.  Por  several 
years  he  performed  the  duties  of  lecturer  on  "Pastoral  Theol- 
ogy "  at  the  Berkelj  Divinity  School,  Middletown,  Conn.  He  is 
prominently  connected  with  the  management  of  the  Home  Missions  of 
the  Episcopal  Church.  During  his  last  rectorship  he  became  a  director 
of  the  "Society  for  the  Increase  of  the  Ministry,"  a  member  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  of  the  "  Sunday  School  Union  and  Church  Book 
Society,"  and  president  of  the  "  Home  of  the  Aged  and  Orphans  on 
the  Church  Charit}'  Foundation."  He  was  for  many  years  a  contrib- 
utor to  the  "  American  Quarterly  Church  Eeview."  Among  the 
articles  most  favorably  known  to  the  public  are  reviews  of  Sir  James 
Stephens'  "Lectures  on  the  History  of  France,"  Cousin's  "History 
of  Modern  Philosophy,"  the  "Character  and  "Writings  of  Coleridge," 
the  "  Poems  of  George  Herbert,"  and  Miss  Beecher's  "  Bible  and 
the  People."     He  has  likewise  published  many  sermons. 

We  make  the  following  eloquent  selection  from  a  sermon  preached 
by  Dr.  Littlejohn,  before  the  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  of  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut,  June  12th,  1855 : 

"  To  ascertain  whether  the  preaching  of  to-day  be  what  it  might  and  ought  to 
be,  it  is  not  needful  to  compare  it  with  the  preaching  of  other  periods.  Among  the 
various  forms  through  which  it  passed  before,  and  thi'ough  which  it  has  passed  since 
the  Eeformation,  it  may  be  better  than  some  and  worse  than  others.  It  may  be 
better  than  the  preaching  of  Oiigen,  vitiated  by  all  gories,  or  that  of  Nazianzen, 
overladen  with  affectations  of  rhetoric.  It  may  be  inferior,  again,  to  the  preaching 
of  St.  Basil  and  St.  Chrysostom,  whose  fervid  grandeur,  impetuous  energj',  and 
scriptural  simplicity  redeemed  the  weakness  of  a  preceding  age,  and  made  Con- 
stantinople and  Antioch  the  clashic  grounds  of  Christian  eloquence.  It  may  be 
better  than  the  mediaeval  church,  when  with  worship,  doctrine,  discipline,  and 
priesthood,  it  suffered  a  common  petrifaction.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  worse, 
less  bold,  less  trenchant,  less  a  medium  and  a  result  of  God's  word,  than  the  style 
of  those  standard-bearers  of  a  newly  reformed  church,  who  were  summoned  from 
the  silence  of  the  altar  and  the  constraints  of  an  intricate  ritualism,  to  participate 
in  the  excitements  of  free  discussion  and  pulj^it  address.  So,  too,  it  may  be  inferior 
in  wealth  of  erudition  and  elaborateness  of  finish  to  the  preaching  of  the  illustrious 
divines  of  the  seventeenth  century,  while  it  is  greatly  in  advance,  in  every  essen- 
tial regard,  of  that  which  prevailed  in  the  eighteenth,  when,  but  too  generally,  the 
prophets,  evangelists,  and  apostles  gave  way  to  Tully,  Epictetus,  and  Plato. 

"  Let  such  comparisons  result  as  they  may  ;  let  us  stand  where  we  will  in  refer- 
ence to  the  styles  and  methods  of  by-gone  ages  ;  it  is  agreed  on  all  sides  that  the 
preaching  of  to-day  does  not  adequately  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  time.     It  is 

323 


A.     N.     LITTLEJOHN     D.    D. 

agreed  that  it  does  not  siseak  with  the  authority,  unction,  and  power  to  be  expected 
from  so  divine  a  gift  that,  instead  of  ruling,  it  is  ruled  by  the  dominant  tendencies 
of  the  secular  thought ;  that  it  fails  to  echo  the  virtues  and  inspirations  of  the  word 
of  God  ;  that  it  is  neither  great  as  an  exhibition  of  Christian  intellect,  nor  earnest 
as  an  organ  of  Christian  spirituality;  that  men  smile  when  it  thunders,  and  sleep  when 
it  persuades  ;  that  it  addresses  more  Felixes  who  yawn  than  Felixes  who  tremble. 
And  yet  it  is  equally  agreed  by  all  fair  observers  that  it  is  not  lacking  in  many  of 
the  higher  sources  of  influence— as  sprightliness,  culture,  versatility,  and  occasional 
eloquence.  Nor  is  it  considered  wanting  in  learning,  in  knowledge  of  the  Gospel 
theorv,  or  of  human  nature,  nor  in  ready  command  of  the  fruits  and  appliances  of 
intellectual  activity.  Nor,  again,  so  far  as  the  church  pulpit  is  concerned,  can  it  be 
urged  as  a  cause  of  the  present  debility  and  stagnation,  that  it  has  forsaken  its 
legitimate  toiDics  for  the  curious  novelties  of  the  hour,  or  has  condescended  to 
humor  the  caprices  of   the  fickle  multitude. 

"Where,  then,  is  this  defect  ?  Where  is  the  seat  of  the  paralysis  of  so  mighty  a 
gift?  What  is  needed  to  redeem  it  from  this  pious  weakness  and  decent  mediocrity  ? 
How  shall  it  regain  its  lost  dominion  over  the  sources  of  public  sentiment,  and 
inspire  the  world  with  a  due  reverence  for  its  claims  as  one  of  the  instrumentalities 
of  God  for  the  redemption  of  man  ?  Brethren,  we  who  have  been  ordained  to  this 
holy  junction,  there  is  but  one  way  back  to  the  heights  of  power,  and  we  must  each, 
in  our  places,  begin  to  travel  it.  We  must  look  anew  into  our  commission.  With 
purged  sight,  let  us  try  to  see  in  it  the  very  handwriting  of  the  church's  Head,  and 
the  baptism  of  the  Pentecostal  fire  ;  let  us  lay  bold  upon  the  gift  as  it  is  rooted  in 
the  grace  and  sanctum  of  the  living  God  ;  let  us  use  it  as  a  thing  fed  by  the  eternal 
Spirit,  and  as  a  constituted  part  of  a  supernatural  order  ;  let  us  grasp  it  in  its 
spiritual  aspects,  and  on  the  side  lying  next  the  unseen  world.  Spiritual  in  its 
origin,  spiritual  in  its  nature,  spiritual  in  its  object,  preaching,  to  the  great,  must 
be  the  work  of  the  spiritual  mind.  A  profound  spirituality  of  private  exijerience, 
an  experience  of  the  death  that  is  in  us,  and  the  life  that  is  in  Christ — a  trial  of  the 
griefs  and  joys,  the  pains  and  consolations  springing  from  the  conflict  of  the  death 
of  nature  and  the  life  of  grace  :  it  is  this  that  conditions  and  measures  the  power  of 
preaching.  It  was  this  that  made  Paul,  in  spite  of  slowness  of  speech  and  mean- 
ness of  stature,  the  mightiest  of  Christian  orators.  It  was  this  likeness  unto  the 
ministry  of  his  Master,  this  actual  bearing  about  within  his  soul  of  the  blood  and 
the  agony  of  Calvary,  and  the  glory  and  the  triumph  of  the  risen  Jesus  that  silenced 
Athens,  Ephesus,  and  Corinth,  when  presuming  to  compare  him  with  some  inferior 
name." 

Dr.  Littlejobn  is  above  the  medium  height,  with  a  well-formed, 
stately  person.  His  head  is  large,  the  face  is  wide,  and  the  features 
are  molded  into  marked  expressiveness,  though  thej  lack  in  regu- 
larity. The  mouth,  for  instance,  is  disproportionately  large,  while 
the  prominent,  curved  under  lip  gives  a  scornful  expression  to  the 
countenance.  His  hair,  which  is  of  a  light  color,  is  worn  combed 
behind  the  ears ;  and  the  broad,  high,  strikingly  intellectual  fore 
head  is  presented  in  unintetTupted  view.  Here  the  eye  of  the 
observer  lingers  pleasantly,  for  the  characteristics  are  those  of  the 
most  exalted  degree  of  mental  power.     The  severity  and  scornful- 

324 


A.     ISr.     LITTLEJOHN    D.    D. 

ness  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  face  here  melts  into  the  light  and 
beauty  of  intellectuality,  speaking  especially  in  the  fall,  clear  eyes. 
With  considerable  reserve  of  manners,  he  has  so  much  high-toned, 
thoughtful  courtesy,  and  is  such  an  agreeable  conversationalist  that 
intercourse  with  him  is  not  less  unrestrained  than  pleasant.  He  never 
himself  loses  sight  of  his  reverend  character,  nor  will  he  suffer  you 
to  do  so,  but  his  inclination  to  sociableness  is  quite  evident.  His 
deportment,  in  all  respects,  is  that  most  becoming  to  one  holding  a 
religious  and  scholarly  position  like  his  own,  and,  with  his  languao-e, 
is  at  once  an  example  and  an  incentive  to  all  with  whom  he  comes 
in  contact. 

Dr.  Littlejohn  is  one  of  the  ablest  preachers  in  the  Episcopal 
pulpit.  His  sermons  are  thorough  in  the  masterly  exposition  of  the 
theme,  and  equally  able  in  polish  and  effectiveness  of  diction.  There 
is  no  stiltedness  and  no  hesitancy  in  the  argument ;  no  dimness  and 
no  mystification  in  the  expressions  ;  all  stand  out  powerful  and 
manifest,  convincing  and  brilliant.  On  subjects  of  learned  research, 
on  points  of  church  doctrine,  and  in  moral  discussions,  he  shows 
equal  ability,  and  reaches  the  convictions  of  his  hearers  by  the  one 
road  of  intelligent,  eloquent  reasoning.  His  style  of  delivery  is 
subdued,  and  exceedingly  well  disciplined.  His  words,  rather  than 
himself,  are  impassioned.  Whatever  strength  his  thoughts  may  gain 
from  their  mode  of  delivery,  it  never  arises  from  anything  like 
excitement  in  himself,  but  altogether  from  a  distinct,  firm  voice,  and 
a  manner  wbicli  is  almost  that  of  authority.  His  sentences  rise  into 
the  grander  conception  of  logic,  and  they  grow  touching  with  pious 
seriousness  ;  he  startles  the  minds  and  stirs  the  hearts  of  others  ;  but 
he  remains  calm  and  emotionless  himself  In  fact,  he  belongs  to 
that  school  of  preachers  who  have  an  ever  present  consciousness  of 
the  responsible  position  in  which  their  sacred  calling  has  placed 
them,  and  who  appeal  to  reason,  and  through  it  to  feeling.  They 
stand  in  the  pulpit  clothed  with  all  dignity,  and  their  eloquence  con- 
sists in  the  graces  of  scholarship,  and  not  in  boisterous  declamation. 
Pre-eminent  among  this  learned  and  honored  class,  Dr.  Littlejohn 
has  his  appropriate  place.  Avoiding  every  tendency  to  render  the 
preacher  conspicuous,  he  only  seeks  to  m-ake  the  sermon  a  fitting 
part  of  man's  intelligent  worship  in  the  house  of  the  ever-living 
God. 

;:2y 


REY.  ROBERT  LOWRY, 

TIST    CHURCH,    BIIOOBLLYIV. 


EV.  EGBERT  LOWRY  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  March 
^  26th,  1826.  After  a  course  of  earlier  instruction  in  his 
''  native  city,  he  entered  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  was  graduated,  subsequently  perfecting  his  theo- 
logical investigations  by  the  use  of  a  series  of  lectures,  deliv- 
ered at  Newton  Theological  Seminary.  He  graduated  with 
the  highest  honors  of  the  University,  delivering  the  valedictory 
address.  While  at  the  University  he  conducted  a  protracted  meeting 
at  a  place  in  the  vicinity,  which  ultimately  led  to  the  founding  of  a 
church,  of  which  he  took  charge  until  his  graduation.  He  was 
ordained  in  1854,  and  at  once  settled  over  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
West  Chester,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained  about  four  years. 
He  next  became  pastor  of  the  Bloomingdale  Baptist  Church,  New 
York  city,  and  in  May,  1861,  commenced  pastoral  relations  with  the 
Hanson  Place  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn.  Mr.  Lowry  has  published  va- 
rious sermons  and  addresses,  and  a  number  of  hymns  and  songs.  His 
poetical  compositions  are  to  be  found  in  the  "  Atheni3eum  Collection," 
"Sunday  School  Bell,"  "Children's  Choir,"  "Young  Reaper,"  a 
Sunday  school  periodical,  and  some  in  sheet  music.  The  hymns  are 
chiefly  for  Sunday  school  services,  and  in  many  instances  Mr.  Lowrj 
is  the  composer  of  the  music  as  well  as  the  author  of  the  words. 
During  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1856  he  edited  a  Republican 
paper,  called  the  Independent^  at  West  Chester. 

After  a  ministry  of  some  years  at  Hanson  Place  Church,  Mr. 
Lowry  became  Professor  of  Rhetoric  in  the  University  at  Lewisburg, 
Pa,,  where  he  still  remains.  He  is  also  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church 
there. 

326 


REV.     ROBERT    LOWRY. 

Mr.  Lowry  is  slightly  above  the  medium  height,  with  a  fairly 
propt)rtioned  figure.  His  head  is  of  the  long  kind,  physically  speak- 
ing, with  the  foce  well  filled  out,  healthful  looking,  and  moderately 
intellectual.  He  i:ias  quiet,  pleasant  eyes,  and  generally  an  amiable, 
attractive  countenance.  In  his  manners  he  is  unrestrained  and 
cordial.  To  the  casual  observer  he  looks  like  an  easy-going,  tract- 
able, impressible  character,  but  really  is  exactly  the  reverse.  He  is 
a  man  of  strong,  impassioned  convictions,  and  you  have  only  to 
touch  the  spring  of  feeling,  when  your  lamb  is  transformed  into  a 
lion.  That  which  he  believes,  he  believes  with  the  strength  of  his 
whole  nature,  and  that  which  he  hates,  he  hates  with  the  bitterness 
of  abhorrence  and  rage.  He  is  most  sensitive  to  all  that  effects  these 
opinions.  His  heart  is  often  on  fire  when  his  lips  move  not,  and  he 
turns  from  those  who  have  no  sympath}"  with  him  only  to  renew  the 
vow  of  his  own  steadfastness.  The  depth  of  his  feelings,  the  warmth 
of  his  eulogy,  and  the  intensity  of  his  denunciation  are  best  seen  in 
his  writings.  Here  the  heart  seems  to  break  forth  in  unchecked 
out-pourings,  and  its  agitation  and  surgings  are  shown  in  words  of 
great  earnestness.  He  writes  with  a  self-evident  purpose,  and  effect- 
ually to  the  point,  and  his  pen  is  not  only  fluent,  but  he  has  command 
of  that  kind  of  sledge-hammer  language  which  is  very  apt  to  crumble 
opposite  theories  into  powder.  He  always  exhibits  much  com- 
prehensiveness in  regard  to  the  subject  of  his  disquisitions,  argues 
his  own  side  in  a  terse,  epigrammatic,  eloquent  way,  and  assaults  the 
other  with  sneers,  sarcasm,  and  blunt,  bitter  epithet.  His  ordinary 
sermons  have  not  the  power  of  his  occasional  sermons  and  addresses. 
The  former  are  delivered  extempore,  from  brief  notes,  while  the  latter 
are  more  thoughtful,  scholarly  productions.  He  speaks  with  con- 
siderable fluency,  but  with  much  less  than  he  exercises  in  writing, 
and  there  is  wanting  that  graphicness  and  vigor  which  impart  so 
much  to  the  interest  of  his  literary  efforts.  As  a  preacher,  he  is 
effective,  without  being  brilliant,  while  in  his  writings  he  may  justly 
be  regarded  as  both.  He  has  an  agi'eeable  voice,  and  at  times  be- 
comes quite  animated,  generally  closing  his  sermons  with  some  mov- 
ing appeal.  >327 


REV.  JAMES  M.  LUDLOW,  D.D., 

OIVE     OF     THE     T»JL!TiTORS    OF    THIl:    C0IL,L,EGTATE 
IlEFOllMiED    (OUTCH)    CHURCH,    IVJE^W    YORK!. 


EV.  DR  JAMES  M.  LUDLOW  was  born  at  Elizabeth, 
New  Jersey,  March  15th,  1841.  His  early  studies  were 
in  different  schools  of  Elizabeth,  lie  was  graduated  at 
Princeton  College,  in  1861,  and  at  the  Tlieological  Semin- 
ary in  1864.  He  was  licensed  as  a  Presbyterian  minister,  April 
21st,  1863,  by  tlie  Old  SchooS  Presbytery,  of  Passaic,  New 
Jersey.  From  May  until  October,  1864,  he  officiated  as  assistant  to 
the  Eev.  Dr.  Magee,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  church  of 
Elizabeth.  In  the  autumn  of  this  year  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  church  of  Albany,  where  he  was  ordained  and  installed 
July  19th,  1S65.  He  remained  in  this  work  about  four  years,  when 
he  felt  it  his  duty  to  accept  a  call  to  the  junior  pastorship  of  the  Col- 
legiate Reformed  (Dutch)  Church,  New  York,  which  had  been  left 
vacant  by  the  i*esignation  of  the  talented  and  distinguished  Rev.  Dr. 
Joseph  T.  Duryea.  He  accepted  the  position  in  New  York  in  No- 
vember, 1868,  and  on  the  last  Sunday  in  December,  1868,  he  was  in- 
stalled as  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  Collegiate  Church,  holding 
special  relations  as  pastor  to  the  congregation  worshiping  in  Fiftk 
avenue,  corner  of  Forty-eighth  street.  He  received  the  degree  of 
D.  D.  from  Williams  College  in  1872. 

The  Collegiate  Church  in  New  York  began  its  services  in  1626,  in 
the  loft  of  a  horse-mill.  Subsequently,  various  wooden  and  stone 
edifices  were  erected  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  of  which  there 
are  remaining  at  this  time  tlie  building  now  used  as  the  post-office, 
which  was  erected  in  1729,  and  the  "Old  North,  "  on  the  corner  of 
William  and  Fulton  streets,  which  was  erected  in  1769. 

Another  church  is  on  the  corner  of  Lafayette  Place  and  Fourth 
street,  and  some  years  since  a  fine  marble  structure  was  erected  on 
the  corner  of  Fifth  avenue  and  Twentj^-ninth  street.  Before  there 
wa.s  much  improvement  in  upper  Fifth  avenue,  the  Collegiate  Chui-ch 

32S 


REV.      JAMES     M  ,      L  U  I)  L  O  W,      D.  D. 

became  the  owner  of  the  entire  iront  of  the  westerly  block  bounded 
by  Forty- ;ighth  and  Forty-ninth  streets,  and  two  lots  on  Forty-eighth 
street.  A  few  years  since  a  mission  chapel  was  erected  on  Forty- 
eighth  street,  which  was  soon  attended  by  a  large  congregation.  Half 
of  the  property  on  Fifth  avenue  was  sold  at  a  greatly  increased  price, 
so  that  the  portion  retained  cost  nothing.  In  May,  1869,  the  corner- 
stone for  a  magnificent  brown-stone  church  was  laid  on  this  site,  with 
imposing  ceremonies,  conducted  b}'  the  Eev.  Dr.  De  Witt.  This 
building  was  dedicated  in  1873,  and  is  one  of  the  most  imposing  chnrch 
edifices  in  the  city.  It  cost  about  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
The  principal  spire  is  upward  of  250  feet  high,  and  another  is  100  feet. 
There  are  about  fifteen  hundred  children  in  the  different  Sunday 
schools  maintained  by  the  Collegiate  Church.  Beside  these  it  sup- 
ports a  large  day  school  and  various  Industrial  schools.  The  day 
school  has  been  in  existence  since  the  year  1633,  a  period  of  two 
hundred  and  thirty-six  years,  when  a  schoolmaster  came  out  from 
Holland  to  take  charge  of  it.  In  1786,  the  number  of  pujjils  was 
limited  to  twelve,  but  their  number  was  gradually  increased,  until, 
in  1850,  it  had  become  one  hundred  and  fifty.  A  restriction  requir- 
ing the  pupils  to  be  those  attending  the  Dutch  Church  has  been  re- 
moved, and  it  is  now  free  to  all.  For  more  than  a  hundred  years  the 
school  was  kept  at  various  places  in  the  vicinity  of  Bowling 
Green.  It  is  now  held  in  a  building  in  Twenty-ninth  street,  between 
Sixth  and  Seventh  avenues. 

Dr.  Ludlow  is  of  about  the  medium  height  and  erect.  "While  he 
does  not  look  robust  he  has  a  great  deal  of  vitality  and  energy,  and 
both  in  study  and  labor  can  accomplish  the  utmost  task.  His  feat- 
ures are  regular  and  delicate.  The  upper  portion  of  his  head  is  full, 
with  a  noticeable  intellectual  developement,  and  all  the  characteristics 
of  his  face  show  natural  refinement  and  amiability.  Indeed  his  face 
is  very  winning.  It  is  pale  and  youthful,  but  it  has  a  particular 
brightness  and  goodness  about  it  which  impress  you.  You  see  the 
keenest  intellectual  perception,  firmness  to  principle,  and  sublime 
moral  courage.  The  soft  sympathetic  eyes  and  the  meek  expression 
tell  much  of  his  character,  but  not  the  whole  of  it,  for  the  same  eyes 
kindle  into  resolution,  and  the  same  expression  grows  into  one  of 
self-reliance  and  force,  when  principles  are  to  be  defended,  and  a 
moral  example  maintained.  If  gentleness  and  modesty  are  to  be 
found  so  vivid  in  his  countenance,  it  is  truth,  and  courage  for  it, 
which  are  strong  in  his  soul,  and  these  are  undoubtedly  the  forces 

329 


REV.     JAMES     M .      LUDLOW,     D.  D. 

wliich  govern  his  life.  His  manners  are  quiet,  affable,  and  polislied. 
He  meets  jou  with  a  winning  smile,  a  warm  pressure  of  the  hand, 
and  pleasant  words.  With  a  stranger  or  an  intimate  friend  it  is  all 
the  same.  There  is  no  restraint,  no  formality,  and  no  assumption. 
He  converses  fluently  and  well,  and  with  sach  cheerfulness  and  ani- 
mation, and  with  an  observation  so  extended  and  accurate,  that  he  is 
always  entertaining. 

As  a  preacher,  Dr.  Ludlow  fully  meets  the  standard  required  in 
the  Reformed  denomination.  They  require  ability  in  scholarship 
and  soundness  in  doctrine,  with  eloquence  and  power  in  the  pulpit, 
without  personal  ostentation  and  sensationalism.  For  a  man  of  his 
years,  he  is  an  excellent  scholar,  and  time  and  experience  will  make 
him  one  of  the  most  learned  and  comprehensive  theological  minds  of 
the  church.  He  is  animated  by  a  high  ambition  and  by  the  incentive 
of  the  distinguished  position  to  which  he  has  already  attained.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  either  of  his  unwearying  energy  in  the  field  of 
scholarship,  or  in  the  actual  toil  of  daily  ministerial  duty. 

His  sermons  are  excellent  productions.  In  the  first  place,  they  are 
well- written,  and,  in  the  next,  they  show  a  reflection  and  logic  which 
are  very  striking.  There  are  composure  and  dignity  in  his  delivery, 
but  still  warmth  of  feeling  is  always  apparent  in  both  words  and 
actions.  His  voice  is  not  powerful,  but  it  is  clear,  and  altogether 
under  his  command. 

Fidelity  to  his  work,  and  success  in  it,  have  been  characteristic  of 
his  ministry  in  all  places.  In  the  wide  and  important  field  in  which 
he  is  now  engaged,  he  will  undoubtedly  prove  an  instrumentality 
of  great  usefulness  to  his  denomination  and  the  community  at  large. 


330 


REY.   JOHN   P.  LUNBY,  D.D., 

HECTOn      OF      THE      CHURCH    OF      TH^E      HOLY 
A.POSTLES    (EPISCOP-AE),  Ni:^W    YOllIt. 


lEY.  PR.  JOHN  P.  LUNDY  was  bom  at  Danville,  Mon- 
tour county,  Pennsylvania,  February  8d,  1823.  He  was 
graduated  at  Princeton  College  in  1846,  and  then  took  a 

^^5^.  course  of  two  years  at  the  Theological  Seminary  of  that 
place.  In  1849  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the 
^  Presbyterian  church  at  Sing  Sing,  New  York,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1854.  Having  now  determined  to  take  holy  orders  in 
the  Episcopal  Church,  he  was  made  a  deacon  in  the  same  year  by 
Bishop  Upfold,  of  Indiana,  at  Sing  Sing,  and  October  28th,  1855, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  priesthood  at  All  Saints  Church,  Philadel- 
phia, by  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter.  He  was  rector  of  All  Saints  Church 
for  almost  three  years,  and  then  went  to  Emanuel  Church,  Holmes- 
burg,  where  he  labored  until  1868.  From  1863  to  1867  he  was  in 
Philadelphia,  and  passed  a  year  each  at  St  Mark's  and  St.  Stephen's 
Churches.-  After  this  he  was  rector  one  j-ear  of  a  church  at  Read- 
ing, Pennsylvania,  and  was  next  called  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Apostles,  New  York,  where  he  commenced  to  ofl&ciate  in  April, 
1869. 

A  Sunday  School,  established  in  an  upper  room  in  West  Twenty- 
Seventh  street,  was  the  origin  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Apostles. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  S.  Howland  was  called  as  the  first  rector  in 
1847,  when  there  were  twenty  communicants.  A  wealthy  citizen, 
Robert  Ray,  Esq.,  made  a  donation  of  five  lots  on  the  corner  of 
Ninth  averme  and  Twenty-eighth  street,  where  a  church  edifice  was 
erected.  The  consecration  of  the  edifice  took  place  in  February, 
1847,  and  subsequently  it  was  twice  enlarged  to  meet  the  increasing 
wants  of  the  congregation.  A  Mission  House  for  schools  and  benev- 
olent purposes  was  erected  on  a  lot  purchased  at  a  cost  of  twelve 

331 


REV.     JOHN"    P.     LUJSTDY,     D.  D. 

thousand  dollars.  In  1867  the  entire  property  of  tbe  cliurch  was 
estimated  to  be  worth  at  least  seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  and 
the  only  debt  had  been  removed  some  years  before.  Dr.  Howland 
remained  the  rector  until  1868,  over  twenty  3^ears,  and  gathered  a 
large  and  powerful  congregation.  Under  Dr.  Lundy's  ministrations 
the  attendance  continues  numerous,  and  the  whole  work  of  the  par- 
ish is  carried  on  most  energetically. 

During  1859  and  1860  Dr.  Lundy  visited  Europe  and  the  East, 
extending  his  travels  to  Greece,  Egypt,  Constantinople,  and  the  Holy 
Land.  In  Rome  he  gave  much  attention  to  the  study  of  the  anti- 
quities in  the  Catacombs,  and  at  other  points  engaged  in  the  same 
investigations.  The  results  are  to  be  given  in  an  elaborate  work, 
with  illustrations,  which  he  has  been  preparing  for  some  years  under 
the  title  of  "  Ancient  Christianity  Illustrated  by  its  Monuments." 
In  the  winter  of  1872,  and  again  in  1873,  he  delivered  before  his 
congregation  an  extensive  series  of  lectures  on  the  same  subject. 
He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Andalusia  College,  Pennsylva- 
nia, some  years  since. 

Dr.  Lundy  is  of  the  medium  height,  with  a  full  person,  though 
he  is  not  stout.  His  head  is  large,  with  regular  and  intelligent  fea- 
tures. He  has  extremely  social  manners,  and  a  hearty  frankness  of 
speech,  which  are  always  very  much  appreciated  by  all  who  come 
in  contact  with  him.  While  a  man  of  a  great  deal  of  strength  of 
character,  and  of  positive  opinions,  he  is  so  genial  and  friendly  that 
this  does  not  so  much  appear  on  first  acquaintance.  But  those  who 
become  intimately  acquainted  with  him,  or  have  occasion  to  test  his 
judgment  and  energy  in  action,  find  that  he  is  clear  in  the  one,  and 
most  active  and  resolute  in  the  other.  Hence  he  is  a  highly  efiicient 
pastor,  fully  understanding  all  his  duties  and  obligations,  and  having 
the  full  capacity  and  activity  to  meet  all  their  requirements.  He  is 
a  preacher  of  pleasing  characteristics.  He  carefully  avoids  all  dis- 
play in  matter  and  manner,  but  at  the  same  time  uses  such  com- 
])rchensive  and  eloquent  language  that  he  receives  the  undivided 
attention  of  his  audience.  Seeking  to  do  his  work  in  the  ministry 
faithfully  and  successfully,  its  results  have  been  of  a  natui'e  to  give 
prosperity  to  the  church,  and  crown  him  with  honor. 

332 


KEY.  ALBERT  J.  LYMAN, 

P»A.STOK    OF    THE    JSOXJTH    COIVGIIEGA-TIOIV^I^ 
CHURCH,    BK-OOIvLYjV. 


EV.  ALBERT  J.  LYMAN  is  tlie  son  of  Josiah  Ljman, 
a  professor  of   mechanics   and  civil  engineer,  and  was 
born  at  Williston,  Yermont,  December  24th,  1845.     It 
is  proper  to  state  that  Mr.  Lvman  was  born  during  the 
|§f  temporary  sojourn  of  his  parents  in  Yermont,  they  hav- 

^  ing  come  from  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  soon  taken,  and 
passed  all  his  earlier  life.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the 
Seminary  at  East  Hampton,  Massachusetts,  and  subsequently  pur- 
sued his  studies  in  Chicago,  New  York  City,  and  at  Yale  College,  New 
Haven,  In  1868  he  was  graduated  at  the  Union  Theological  Sem- 
inary, New  Yoi'k,  and.  was  licensed  in  the  ministry  by  the  South 
Berkshu-e  Congregational  Association.  His  first  settlement  was  as 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Milford,  Connecticut,  in 
1870,  where  he  remained  until  November,  1873,  having  accepted  a 
call  to  the  South  Congi'egational  Church,  Brooklyn,  where  he  be- 
came pastor  January  1st,  1874. 

In  1851  an  edifice,  for  a  lecture-room,  Sunday  School-room,  and 
pastor's  study,  was  erected  on  a  portion  of  several  lots  at  the  corner 
of  Court  and  President  streets,  Brooklyn,  and,  in  February  of  the 
same  year,  was  opened  for  public  worship.  On  the  31st  of  March 
the  South  Congregational  Church  was  organized,  over  which  the 
Rev.  William  Marsh  became  settled.  The  Rev.  Daniel  March  was 
called  in  1854,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev\  Rufus  W.  Clark 
in  1857.  Mr.  Clark  was  installed  in  a  large  new  church  edifice, 
which  had  been  erected  on  the  corner  of  Court  and  President  streets, 
fronting  on  the  former  street.  The  structure  is  of  fine  brick,  with 
stone  trimmings,  and,  o~ccupying  an  elevated  position,  its  grace- 
ful spire  towers  above  every  other.     The  church  portion  will  seat 

333 


REV.     ALBERT    J,     LYMAN. 

nine  hundred  persons,  and  is  fitted  with  admirable  taste,  and  the 
arrangement  of  the  leoture-room,  Sunday  School-room,  and  pastor's 
study  is  one  of  much  convenieuce.  At  one  period  twenty -five 
thousand  dollars  were  expended  in  alterations  of  the  church  build- 
ing. On  the  4:th  of  December,  1863,  a  call  was  extended  to  the  Eev. 
Edward  Taylor,  then  of  Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  which  he  accepted, 
and  labored  with  the  congregation  for  several  years.  The  Rev.  Air. 
Storrs  was  the  next  pastoi-,  who  resigned  after  some  length  of  time, 
and  this  vacancy  was  filled  by  the  acceptance  of  a  call  by  Mr.  Ly- 
man. 

In  appearance  Mr.  Lj^man  is  tall  and  erect,  with  a  head  of  con- 
siderable size,  and  a  pleasant,  cheerful-looking  face.  His  manners 
are  cordial,  and  in  some  respects  peculiar.  He  does  not  regard  any 
professional  conventionalities,  but  has  an  impulsiveness  and  fr'^edom 
of  action  which  are  original  to  himself.  In  his  conversation  he  is 
the  same,  showing  an  inclination  for  humor  and  a  style  of  language, 
which  rather  border  on  the  excentric  than  otherwise.  Of  his  sin- 
cerity, of  his  sympathy  with  all  that  is  noble  and  good,  and  of  his 
desire  to  pass  for  simply  a  plain  yonng  minister,  but  one  seeking  to 
do  a  faithful  part  in  life, — of  all  these  there  cannot  be  the  slightest 
doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  person  who  comes  in  contact -with  him. 
In  the  pulpit  he  is  also  original  and  peculiar.  He  arrests  the  un- 
divided attention  of  an  audience,  and  is  alike  argumentative  and 
pathetic.  The  whole  work  of  the  ministry  in  his  hands  is  efficiently 
discharged,  and  his  influence  is  constantly  extending. 

334 


REV.  ROBERT  STUART  MacARTIIUR, 

PA.STOK    OF    C^^lL,Vj\.riY   I3A.PTIST    CHXJUCH,    NEW 


EGBERT  STUART  MacARTHUR  was  born  at 
Dalesville,  Quebec,  Canada,  July  31st,  1841.  His  parents 
emigrated  from  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  to  Canada,  and 
to  this  day  speak  the  Gaelic  language  of  their  native  sec- 
tion, as  well  as  the  English.  While  his  father  holds  to 
^^  the  Presbyterian,  faith,  his  mother  and  all  the  other  members 
of  the  family  are  Baptists.  He  was  converted  at  the  age  of 
thirteen,  and  joined  the  Baptist  church  at  Dalesville,  Three  years 
later  he  removed  to  St.  Andrews,  Quebec,  where  he  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits  ;  but  at  length  felt  called  upon  to  preach.  At 
eighteen  he  was  in  the  habit  of  holding  religious  meetings  in  school- 
houses  and  private  houses,  where  he  addressed  interested  audiences. 
He  then  went  to  the  Canadian  Literary  Institute  at  Woodstock, 
Ontario,  Canada,  where  he  passed  nearly  three  years  in  preparation 
Jbr  college.  He  also  distributed  tracts,  and  held  religious  meeting?. 
He  entered  the  University  at  Rochester.  New  York,  when  he  was 
graduated  in  1867,  taking  during  his  course  two  of  the  highest  piizes 
in  the  gift  of  the  University.  One  of  these  was  a  Sophomore  prize 
for  declamation,  and  the  other  a  gold  medal  for  the  best  written  and 
delivered  oration  at  graduation.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  Septem- 
ber 25th,  1868. 

In  1870  he  was  graduated,  at  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Ro- 
chester. While  at  the  Seminary  he  preached  every  Sunday  evening 
for  a  year  and  a  half  at  the  Lake  Avenue  Baptist  chapel,  where  a  large 
number  of  persons  were  converted.  The  movement  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  church,  which  is  now  numerous  and  flourishing. 

Later  he  preached  as  a  supply  in  the  village  of  Canandaigua,  N.Y., 
and  received  calls  to  churches  at  Canandaigua,  Titusville,  Pa.,  and 


335 


REV.  ROBERT  STUART  Mac  ARTHUR. 

St.  Louis,  Mo.  He  finally  accepted  a  call  to  the  Calvary  Baptis,. 
Church,  in  West  Twenty-third  street,  New  York,  where  he  was  in- 
stalled June  16th,  1870. 

This  church  was  formerly  known  as  the  Broadway  Baptist  Church, 
and  then,  as  Calvary  church,  grew  to  in-iportance  under  the  ministry 
of  the  Eev.  Dr.  A.  D.  Gillette,  who  was  its  pastor  for  a  number  of 
years.  During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  MacArthur  the  congregation  has 
been  much  strengthened.  Many  conversions  have  taken  place,  and 
more  than  two  hundred  members   have  been  added  to  the  church. 

Mr.  MacArthur  is  of  tlie  medium  height,  compactly  made,  erect, 
and  active.  His  head  is  large  and  round,  with  intelligent  and  ex- 
pressive features.  His  appearance  gives  you  the  idea  that  in  point 
of  both  the  physical  and  mental  powers,  he  is  capable  of  all  that  he 
may  undertake.  He  is  comjDosed  and  dignified  in  his  manners  ;  at 
the  same  time  that  a  natural  geniality  of  spirits  always  asserts  itself, 
and  makes  companionship  with  hira  exceedingly  agreeable.  A  man 
of  deep  reflection  in  all  things,  and  of  well-balanced  judgment,  he 
has  in  his  speech  and  action  everything  to  show  self-reliance  and  ex- 
perience on  his  own  part,  and  also  that  which  obtains  the  gi'eatest  in- 
fluence with  others.  Hence,  in  his  private  relations  and  as  a  public 
speaker,  he  exerts  an  influence  of  the  most  positive  nature  over 
individuals  and  the  multitude.  All  who  come  in  contact  with 
him  are  impressed  with  his  deeply  I'cligious  character,  and  his  earnest 
efforts  to  do  good. 

He  went  into  the  ministry  from  no  motive  of  ambition,  but  be- 
cause he  felt  called  to  it.  His  preparation  was  patient,  thorough,  and 
devout.  It  was  not  only  to  acquire  that  scholarly  knowledge  which 
was  necessary  for  the  expounding  of  the  Scriptures,  but  it  was  to 
gain  more  and  more  the  inestimable  truths  of  his  own  faith,  and  the 
purity  of  the  renewed  heart.  Girding  himself  to  stretch  out  his  aid 
to  those  struggling  with  sin,  he  was  careful  to  see  that  he  stood  in  no 
peril  himself 

His  preaching  has  the  force  mingled  with  tenderness  always 
noticeable  in  a  person  of  these  characteristics.  He  is  bold  and  pro- 
nounced in  his  opinions;  he  is  animated  and  inspired  in  announcing 
the  message  of  grace,  and  he  is  wonderfully  and  beautifully  touching 
"when  he  deals  with  the  suffering  spirit  of  his  fellows.  He  has  a  good 
voice,  and  his  whole  manner  in  the  pulpit  is  very  attractive.  It  can- 
not be  doubted  that  his  career  will  redound  to  his  own  honor  and  the 
increase  of  the  fold  of  Christ. 

336 


^mi\ 


I 


JOHN    McCLOSKEY,    D.  D., 


ARCHBISHOI*      0"EP      I^^ET^7'      YORK, 


HE  name  of  the  Most  Rev,  Archbishop  John  Mc- 
"VT^^i&^i;^  Closkey,  D.  D.,  is  one  revered  and  ilkistrious  in  the 
i'ri^iftS^/'''^  annals  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the  United 
States.  His  entire  life  has  been  marked  by  c:entle 
p"?©  qualities  of  character,  sincere  piety,  and  great  devotion 
to  duty.  Rising  to  his  present  exalted  ecclesiastical  posi- 
tion by  the  force  of  liis  talents  and  the  significance  of  his 
virtues,  as  shown  in  every  grade  and  labor  of  the  priestly  office,  he 
has  awakened  the  admiration  of  every  sect  and  class,  not  less  by 
the  consistency  than  the  modesty  of  his  career. 

Most  Rev.  Dr.  John  M-jCloskey,  Archbishop  of  the  Arch- 
DJocese  of  New  York,  was  born  in  the  City  of  Brooklyn,  March 
20th,  1810,  and  is,  therefore,  sixty-one  years  old.  Being  a  youth 
of  more  than  ordinary  promise,  his  mother,  who  became  a  widow 
when  he  was  only  ten  years  old,  gave  him  a  liberal  education, 
and  he  finally  })repared  for  the  jDriesthood.  He  concluded  his 
collegiate  course  at  the  institution  of  Mount  St.  Mary's,  Emmets- 
burg,  Md.,  in  1827,  and  pursued  his  first  course  of  theology  at  the 
same  place.  He  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  about  1830.  He 
was  ordained  Priest  by  Bishop  Dubois,  in  January,  1834,  at  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral,  New  York,  where  he  celebrated  his  first  Mass; 
and  in  the  following  November,  left  for  Rome,  where  he  passed  two 
years  in  the  schools  of  the  Roman  College.  On  his  return  to  New 
York,  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  St.  Joseph's  Chui'ch,  where  he 
remained  for  seven  years,  with  the  exception  of  nine  months.  Dur- 
ing this  interval,  he  was  President  of  St.  John's  Cullege,  Fordhara, 
N.  Y.,  then  just  going  into  operation.  He  was  consecrated  Bishop 
of  Axiere  by  Bishop  Hughes,  March  10th,  1844,  and  became  Coad- 
jutor of  the  officiating  prelate. 

337 


JOHN    McCLOSKET.    D.   D. 

He  had  now  readied,  at  thirty-four,  a  very  prominent  position 
in  the  Church.  His  superior,  and  all  others  associated  with  him 
in  the  religious  work,  were  deeply  impressed  with  his  ability  and 
zeal.  In  1847,  when  the  Diocese  of  Albany  was  established,  he  was 
transferred  to  that  one.  He  found  the  diocese,  which  included  all 
of  the  State  of  New  York  lying  north  of  forty-two  degrees  north 
and  east  of  the  eastern  line  of  Cayuga,  Tompkins,  and  Tioga 
counties,  very  feeble,  having  only  forty  churches,  some  of  them 
without  clergymen.  The  Catholic  population  was  scattered  over  a 
large  territory,  and  was,  for  the  most  part,  poor,  and  had  to  strug- 
gle against  the  prejudice  of  the  surrounding  people. 

Bishop  McCloskey  lost  no  time  in  pressing  forward  in  the  great 
task  now  before  him.  He  made  St.  Mary's,  one  of  the  few  Cath- 
olic churches  of  Albany,  his  Cathedral;  but  in  July,  1848,  laid  the 
corner-stone  for  a  new  edifice.  The  large  and  fine  structure,  now 
known  as  the  Cathedral  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  was  com- 
pleted in  the  fall  of  1853,  at  a  cost,  with  the  Episcopal  residence, 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  year  1851  was 
marked  by  the  opening  of  the  Academy  of  St.  Joseph,  in  Troy, 
under  the  care  of  the  Christian  Brothers,  and  the  establishment  of 
a  hospital  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  which  has,  in  a  siugle  year, 
received  seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine  patients.  In  1852,  a  Fe- 
male Seminary  was  founded  in  Albany,  by  a  colony  of  Sisters  of 
the  Sacred  Heart;  and  in  1855  an  Academy  for  boys  was  opened 
at  Utica  at  a  cost  of  more  than  seventeen  thousand  dollars. 

His  term  of  service  in  the  Diocese  of  Albany  extended  over  a 
period  of  seventeen  years,  and  during  the  whole  time  his  labors 
were  characterized  by  unceasing  earnestness,  and  everywhere  crowned 
with  more  than  the  usual  success.  He  left  in  the  Diocese  one  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  churches,  eight  chapels,  fifty-four  minor  stations, 
eighty-five  missionaries,  three  academies  for  boys,  and  one  for  girls, 
six  orphan  asylums,  and  fifteen  parochial  schools. 

Bishop  McCloskey  was  held  very  dearly  by  the  late  Archbishop 
Hughes;  and  from  certain  acts  immediately  before  his  death,  and 
the  testamentary  papers  wliich  he  left  behind  him,  the  inference 
was  that  he  desired  to  be  succeeded  by  his  former  Coadjutor.  At 
all  events,  he  was  most  favorably  indicated  for  the  position  by  the 
votes  of  his  Episcopal  brethren,  and  became  the  selection  of  the 
Pope.  Before  his  dej^arture  from  Albany,  he  was  entertained  by 
his  clergy,  when  an  address  was  presented  to  him,  with  gifts,  pro- 

338 


JOHN    McCLOSKEY,     D.    D. 

cured  at  an  expense  of  four  thousand  dollars,  consisting  of  his  por- 
trait, and  an  Archepiscopal  cross  and  ring.     Says  the  address : 

"  It  is,  Right  Reverend  Father,  in  the  recollection  of  nearly  all 
of  us,  that  when  you  took  possession  of  this  See  there  were  but  few 
churches,  and  fewer  priests.  How  great  the  change  !  Ever  since 
you  have  been  all  to  us — our  Bishop,  our  father,  our  counselor,  our 
best  friend !  Your  noble  Cathedral,  with  its  surrounding  religious 
and  literary  institutions;  the  grand  and  beautiful  churches  erected 
under  your  patronage,  and  with  your  assistance;  the  religious  com- 
munities introduced  and  fostered  by  your  care,  and  all  now  flour- 
ishing with  academies  and  schools;  your  clerg}^,  numbering  nearly 
one  hundred,  and,  by  their  union  and  zeal,  reflecting  some  of  your 
own  spirit, — all  tell  of  your  Apostolic  work  here,  and  how  difficult 
it  is  for  us  to  say — farewell." 

The  Governor  of  the  State  and  a  number  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  Albany  invited  the  Bishop  to  a  public  dinner,  which,  however, 
his  engagements  would  not  allow  him  to  accept.  Says  the  letter 
of  invitation  : 

"  Permit  us  to  say  that  your  residence  of  seventeen  years  with 
us  has  taught  us  to  appreciate  a  character  elevated  by  noble  senti- 
ments, and  inspired  by  Christian  charity.  It  is  for  others  to  bear 
witness  to  the  results  of  your  Episcopal  labors,  the  reflected  light 
of  which  we  see  in  the  elevated  condition  of  your  people.  It  is  for 
us  to  recognize  the  successful  mission  of  one  who  has  united  in  his 
person  the  character  of  a  learned  prelate  and  a  Christian  gentle- 
man, and  whose  influence  in  society  has  been  exerted  to  soothe  and 
tranquilize,  to  elevate  and  instruct." 

No  higher  or  more  beautiful  tributes  were  ever  paid  to  any 
individual  in  a  like  position.  Touching  and  beautiful  as  were  the 
sentiments  conveyed,  they  were  the  expression  of  all  classes  of  every 
faith  in  the  diocese. 

The  installation  of  Bishop  McCloskey  as  the  Archbishop  of  the 
Archdiocese  of  New  York,  took  place  on  Sunday,  August  21st, 
1864,  at  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  his  appointment  bearing  date  of 
May,  1864,  before  a  vast  audience.  There  was  one  of  the  grandest 
Episcopal  and  sacerdotal  processions  ever  seen  in  this  country. 
Bishops  of  the  Church  were  present  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and 
some  from  abroad.  The  Archbishop  elect,  escorted  by  two  priests, 
walked  under  a  canopy  of  elaborately-wurked  satin  and  gold,  and 
borne  by  four  persons.     When  the  Archbishop  came  in  front  of 


JOHN    McCLOSKEY,     D.    D. 

the  altar  he  knelt  devoutly,  and  remained  for  some  time  in  silent 
prayer.  Being  escorted  to  the  throne  in  front  of  the  rostrum,  the 
Bishops  present  ascended  the  steps  one  by  one,  and,  on  presenting 
themselves  to  the  Archbishop,  he  tenderly  embraced  them,  imprint- 
ing the  kiss  of  peace  on  their  left  cheek.  The  priests  followed  in 
like  manner,  one  at  a  time,  and  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  their  supe- 
rior, respectfully  kissed  the  signet-ring  on  his  right  hand.  He 
received  the  crozier,  tiara,  and  other  paraphernalia  of  the  Archie- 
})iscopal  of&ce  in  front  of  the  altar.  The  grand  Pontifical  High 
Mass  set  down  for  the  day  was  then  performed,  and  the  Archbishop 
made  a  most  eloquent  address. 

The  Archdiocese  of  New  York  comprises  the  City  and  County 
of  New  York,  and  the  counties  south  of  the  forty-second  degree  of 
north  latitude,  except  those  on  Long  Island.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Province  of  New  York  embraces  the  Dioceses  of  New  York,  Albany, 
Boston,  Brooklyn,  Buffalo,  Rochester,  Burlington,  Hartford,  Spring- 
field, Newark,  and  Portland,  and  includes  the  States  of  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  all  New  England. 

Archbishop  McCloskey  has  now  been  in  the  Archdiocese  seven 
years.  Great  success  had  previously  followed  the  efforts  of  his 
gifted  and  energetic  predecessor,  but  quite  as  much  has  resulted 
from  his  own.  There  has  been  an  increase  of  twelve  churches,  and 
nearly  one  hundred  priests.  The  Catholic  population  of  the  Arch- 
diocese is  between  five  and  six  hundred  thousand,  and  of  this  num- 
ber between  four  and  five  hundred  thousand  are  in  the  City  of  New 
York.     The  following:  are  the  statistics  of  1871: 


Churclies 121 

Chapels 24 

Priests 229 

Theological  Seminary 1 

Colleges 3 

Academies 12 

Select  Schools   16 


Asylums 13 

Home  for  Aged  Men 1 

Homes  for  Aged  Women 2 

Hospitals 2 

Religious  Communities  for  Men. . .  8 

Religious  Communities  for  Women  12 

Ecclesiastical  Students 58 


In  about  five  years  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  have  been 
expended  on  the  new  Cathedral  building  in  course  of  erection  on 
Fifth  avenue.  One  hundred  thousand  dollars  had  been  previously 
expended,  and  on(i  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  cash, 
recently  subscribed,  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Archbishop  for  the 
work.  At  least  two  millions  will  be  expended  on  the  whole  edifice. 
It  will  have  ten  or  twelve  chapels  besides  the  main  church,  which 
is  to  accommodate  ten  thousand  people. 

340 


JOHN     McCLOSKEY,    D.    D. 

Archbishop  McCloskey  has  made  four  visits  to  Rome,  the  last 
when  in  attendance  at  the  Ecumenical  Council,  when  he  was  nine 
months  in  that  city.  His  labors  in  the  Archdiocese  are  necessarily 
very  great;  and  it  is  but  an  act  of  simple  justice  to  say  that  the 
results  thereof  are  proportionately  beneficent.  Exercising  a  most 
commanding  influence  in  his  extended  and  increasing  field  of  effort, 
as  well  on  account  of  his  high  official  position  as  for  his  prominent 
qualities  of  head  and  heart,  he  has  already  accomplished  an  incal- 
culable amount  of  good,  and  gives  promise  of  greater  usefulness  in 
the  future.  The  Church  in  him  finds  a  zealous  and  efficient  leader, 
and  American  citizenship  a  most  noble  and  honored  exponent.  He 
is  one  of  that  class  of  whom  Addison  says  :  "  Those  men  only  are 
truly  great  who  place  their  ambition  rather  in  acquiring  to  them- 
selves the  conscience  of  worthy  enterprises  than  in  the  prospect  of 
glory  which  attends  them.  These  exalted  spirits  would  rather  be 
secretly  the  authors  of  events  which  are  serviceable  to  mankind, 
than,  without  being  such,  to  have  the  public  fame  of  it." 

He  is  above  the  medium  height,  sparely  made,  and  erect.  His 
head  is  of  an  intellectual  cast,  and  his  countenance,  when  increasing 
years  are  beginning  to  leave  their  unmistakable  lines,  is  strongly 
expressive  of  amiability  and  benevolence.  The  features  are  finely 
moulded  and  uniform.  About  the  mouth  there  is  always  an  expres- 
sion of  the  truest  kindness  and  gentleness,  and  the  eyes  are  soft  and 
sympathetic,  while  full  of  intellectuality.  The  brow  is  broad,  over 
which  the  hair  is  parted,  and  carefully  combed  on  either  side.  In 
any  gathering  of  men  he  would  be  selected  as  a  person  distinguished 
for  gifts  of  mind,  and  great  goodness  of  heart.  In  his  manners  he 
is  dignified,  courteous,  and  kindly.  A  simple,  easy  dignity,  natural 
to  the  man,  as  well  as  taught  in  the  prominent  stations  which  he 
has  so  long  occupied,  does  not  prevent  a  gentlemanly  and  friendly 
demeanor  towards  all  who  have  intercourse  with  him.  There  is 
that  calmness,  thoughtfulness,  and  propriety  which  is  becoming  in 
one  holding  a  sacred  office,  but  the  Avarmth  of  a  genial,  cheerful 
nature  is  as  fully  apparent  in  both  words  and  actions.  Kindred 
natures  are  instantly  drawn  to  him,  and  all  dispositions  must  in 
some  measure  respond  to  the  influence  of  his  fascinations.  He  is  a 
ripe  scholar,  ard  a  bold  and  devoted  churchman.  His  eloquence  is 
of  the  tender,  deeply  religious  kind,  uttered  with  fervent  sincerity, 
and  in  language  at  once  of  simplicity  and  elegance. 

A  man  of  energy,  and  of  sleepless  vigilance  in  the  discharge  of 

S41 


JOHN    McCLOSKEY,    D.    D, 


all  duty,  still  he  always  seeks  the  most  unostentatious  manner  of 
performing  it.  He  provokes  no  conflicts,  and  he  offends  no  opinions, 
but,  with  humility  and  prayerfulness,  toils  on  in  the  sphere  of  his 
own  duties.  Hence  the  many  monuments  which  he  has  reared  to 
the  usefulness  and  glory  of  his  Church,  and  hence  the  spotless  and 
honored  name  which  he  has  given  to  the  ecclesiastical  history  of 
his  times. 


342 


REY.  JOSEPH  McELPtOY,  D.  D., 

PASTOK    OIT    TH3K    SCOTCH    I»R,E^I5YTEItIA-lV 
CHUKCU,    jVIi:^*V    YOKIt. 


EY.  DE.  JOSEPH  McELEOY  is  of  Irish  descent,  and  was 
born  at  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  December  29th,  1792. 
^  He  was  graduated  at  Jefferson  College,  Pennsylvania,  in 
1812,  and  subsequently  studied  theology  with  the 
distinguished  Eev,  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  of  the  Presbyterian 
«2i3  Church.  He  was  licensed  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  June, 
1816,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Monongahela,  and  in  November  of 
the  same  year  became  the  pastor  of  the  First  Associate  Eeformed  Pres- 
bj'teinan  Church  of  Pittsburg,  a  new  congTegation  organized  under  liis 
own  auspices.  After  holding  worship  in  the  Court  House  for  nearly 
two  years  the  congregation  took  ]3ossession  of  a  fine  structure  which 
they  had  been  enabled  to  erect.  At  the  close  of  seven  3-ears  service 
Dr.  Mc  Eh'oy  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York,  to  become  the  suc- 
cessor of  Eev.  Dr.  Mc  Cloud,  at  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Cedar  street,  formerly  under  the  charge  of  Eev.  Dr.  John  Mason  and 
his  son  Eev.  Dr.  John  M.  Mason.  This  congregation  was  organized 
about  a  centur^^  ago,  being  composed  of  a  bodj^  of  seceders  from  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church.  They  were  originally  known  as  the  First 
Associate  Eeformed  Church,  and  later  by  their  present  title  of  Scotch 
Presbyterian.  A  new  church  having  been  erected  on  the  corner  of 
Grand  and  Crosby  streets  it  was  occupied  in  1837 ;  and  this  was  given 
up  in  1853  for  a  still  more  costly  structure  in  Fourteenth  street.  Tlie 
property  extends  from  Fourteenth  street  to  Fifteenth  street,  and 
with  the  church  and  a  school-house  in  the  last  named  street,  cost  over 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Dr.  McElroy  informed  us  several  years  ago,  that  but  six  of  the 
families  connected  with  the  congregation,  at  the  time  of  his  entering 
upon  the  duties  as  pastoi*.  now  remain,  and  not  one  of  the  original 
male  membership.     On  the  other  hand,  to  show  the  manner  in  which 

the  congregation  has  grown  within  itself  he  states  that  a  single  family, 

343 


BEV.     JOSEPH     MCE  LEO  Y,     D.  D. 

increasing  from  generation  to  generation,  from  occupying  one  pe-w 
have  come  to  occupy  ten.  The  present  number  of  members  is  about 
seven  hundred.  The  Sunday  school  has  about  two  hundred  children, 
and  a  day  school  has  over  one  hundred  children.  The  day  school 
is  maintained  by  a  fund  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  obtained  from  cer- 
tain real  estate  bequeathed  for  the  purpose  by  Alexander  Eobertson, 
a  leading  member  of  the  congregation. 

Dr.  McElroy  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Eutgers  College 
about  1825.     His  publications  are  a  few  pamphlet  sermons. 

Dr.  McElroy  is  of  a  tall,  rather  spare  person,  with  a  slight  stoop 
in  his  shoulders.  He  has  a  head,  more  long  than  broad,  with  uni- 
form features,  now  showing  the  contraction  and  other  mai-ks  of  ad- 
vanced age.  His  eyes  are  penetrating  and  intellectual,  having  also 
a  particularly  mild  and  benevolent  beam.  He  is  social  in  his  nature, 
inclined  to  cheerful  conversation,  and  on  all  occasions  shovv^s  those 
impulses  which  best  proclaim  not  only  the  truest  manhood  but  the 
highest  religious  conscientiousness.  You  readily  discover  that  he  is 
a  man  of  the  utmost  reliability  in  all  things,  as  well  as  one  of  broad 
and  substantial  talents.  His  frank,  generous,  high-toned  senti- 
ments—nay, his  very  tone  and  glance — impress  yoii  instantly  with 
his  sterling  value  of  character.  You  contemplate  him  with  that 
genuine  and  absorbing  interest  which  exalted  worth  originates  in  the 
human  bosom,  and  you  listen  to  his  words  with  little  short  of  vener- 
ation. His  manners  are  so  simple  and  gentle  that  a  child  would  be 
naturally  drawn  toward  him,  and  his  oj^inions  are  expressed  with- 
out the  slightest  assumption  of  superior  intelligence.  Thei'e  are 
those  who  claim  a  friendship  for  him  going  through  an  extended  pe- 
riod of  3^ears.  It  is  these,  of  course,  who  know  him  best,  and  it  is 
these  who  say  that  his  admirable  traits  of  character,  his  delightful 
simplicity  of  manners,  his  pure-mindedness,  and  his  loft}^  devotion  to 
dut}^,  are  the  things  which  have  made  friendship  beautiful  and  pro- 
fitable, as  well  in  its  progress  as  in  its  beginning,  as  well  in  cloud  as 
in  sunshine.  Humble-minded,  noble-spirited,  and  devoted  to  Chris- 
tian works,  neither  circumstances  nor  time  produces  any  impression 
upon  him,  save  that  of  a  higher  and  rarer  development  of  personal 
virtues. 

i)r.  McElroy  is  a  very  effective  preacher.  Always  possessed  of 
a  striking  power  of  argument,  and  a  ready  and  efficient  means  of 
reaching  the  emotions,  he  has  gained  greatly  additional  control  over 
his  hearers  by  the  touching  weaknesses  of  age.     Once  he  stood  erect, 

344 


REV.      JOSEPH     MCELROT,     D.  D, 

but  now  lie  is  bowed ;  once  bis  voice  rung  out  with  tbe  force  of  young 
genius  and  ambition,  but  now  it  is  sinking  and  busky ;  once  be  was 
all  energ}^,  but  now  strength  and  life  itself  are  in  their  fast  decline. 
But,  as  we  say,  be  never  was  more  powerful  in  his  pulpit  ministra- 
tions. The  olden  religious  enthusiasm  is  still  upon  him :  his  mind  is 
enriched  with  tbe  garnered  learning  of  nearly  three-quarters  of  a 
century,  and  the  exposition  of  his  faith  still  moves  him  to  a  tender 
eloquence.  And  then  the  bent  form,  the  feeble  voice,  the  brilliant 
flickering  of  the  dying  flame  of  energies,  mind,  and  life,  each  and  all 
give  him  added  and  even  more  irresistible  powers.  He  preaches  ex- 
temporaneously, but  after  diligent  studj^  He  states  that  be  has  not 
written  more  than  five  sermons  during  his  ministry  in  New  York. 
Of  late  years  an  assistant  has  discharged  the  chief  duties  of  the 
pastorate. 

345 


IIEY.  EDWARD  McGLYNN.  D.  D., 

PA-fesTOK  OF   ST.  STE£»M:ETV'©  Cj^THOX^IC    CHXJriCII, 

ISTEW    YORK!. 


'  EV.  DR.  EDWARD  McGLYNN  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Kew  York,  September  27th,  1837.     He  received  his  ear- 
lier education  in  the  public  schools  and  at  the  free  college. 
^^S^^"^   In  1850,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  lie  went  to  Rome, 

fand  commenced  his  studies  preparatory  to  the  priesthood.  At 
the  end  of  seven  years,  he  was  graduated  at  the  college  of  the 
Propaganda,  with  the  highest  honors.  In  1860,  he  entered  the  priest- 
hood, and  also  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity.  For  a 
short  time  he  was  temporary  vice-rector  of  the  American  College  in 
Rome,  when  he  was  recalled  to  New  York  by  Archbishop  Hughes, 
and  appointed  assistant  pastor  of  St.  Joseph's  Church,  where  he  re- 
mained six  months.  Subsequently  he  was  stationed  for  a  brief 
period  respectively  at  St.  Bridget's  and  St.  James'.  He  went  to  St 
Ann's,  as  pastor,  in  December,  1861,  remaining  one  year.  In  1862, 
he  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln,  chaplain  of  the  military  hos- 
pital in  the  Central  Parle,  New  York,  where  he  served  for  three  years. 
He  was  next  appointed,  in  the  latter  part  of  1865,  assistant  pastor  to 
the  distinguished  Rev.  Dr.  Cummings  at  St.  Stephen's.  On  the  de- 
cease of  that  gentleman,  in  January,  1866,  Dr.  McGlynn  was  advanced 
to  the  vacant  pastorship,  which  he  still  holds. 

St.  Stephen's  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  congregations  of  New  York,  numbering  some  twenty-five 
thousand  people.  In  1850,  the  first  services  were  held  by  Dr.  Cum- 
mings, in  a  small  building  on  the  recent  site  of  the  New  Haven  Rail- 
road depot,  on  Twenty  seventh  street  and  Fourth  avenue.  A  large 
church  edifice  was  erected  on  Twenty-eighth  street,  between  Third 
and  Lexington  avenues,  in  1854.  This  structure  was  enlarged,  by 
being  extended  through  the  block  to  Twenty-ninth  street,  during 
1865-6,  at  an  expenditure  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Mag- 
nificent marble  altars  were  erected,  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
and  all  the  other  improvements  were  on  the  same  scale  of  liberality. 
Various  paintings  by  Bi'umidi,  cost  twelve  thousand  dollars.     For 

346 


EEY.     EDWARD     MCGLYNN,     D.  D. 

the  year  187J,  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  clinrch  were  over 
sixty-three  thcnisand  dollars.  The  amount  received  for  pew  rents 
was  over  fourteen  thousand  dollars.  For  seats  at  high  mass,  five 
thousand;  door  collections  at  early  masses  over  seven  thousand  ;  and 
plate  collections  nearly  twelve  thousand.  The  collections  for  charita- 
ble purposes  were  over  ten  thousand  dollars;  and  the  choir  and  extra 
music  cost  over  five  thousand  dollars.  Donations  to  the  amount  of 
about  three  thousand  dollars  were  made  to  the  "  Orphan's  Home," 
originated  b}'  Dr.  McGlynn  and  connected  with  the  church,  and  of 
about  two  thousand  to  the  "  Industrial  Home,"  also  connected  with 
the  church,  for  girls  out  of  employment.  Six  priests  beside  the 
pastor,  are  regularly  stationed  in  this  parish,  who,  aided  by  the  Sis- 
ters of  Charity,  also  visit  Bellevue  Hospital,  which  has  some  six 
thousand  j^atients  per  annum.  The  Sunday  school  consists  of  about 
two  thousand  children  ;  and  there  are  religious  and  temperance  socie- 
ties of  much  numerical  strength.  The  music  is  very  fine,  and  the 
Sunday  vesper  and  holiday  services  are  largely  attended  by  Protest- 
ants. 

A  few  3'ears  since,  Dr.  McGrlynn  spent  a  short  time  in  Europe. 
He  is  constantly  invited  to  different  parts  of  the  country  to  lecture, 
as  he  ranks  among  the  most  popular  and  instructive  speakers  of  the 
ilay.  His  style,  at  such  times,  is  particularly  pure,  logical,  and  vig- 
orous ;  in  some  passages  rising  to  the  dignity  of  fervid  and  sublime 
eloquence.  A  lecture  on  "  Public  Education,"  giving  in  very  argu- 
mentative and  impressive  language,  the  Catholic  view  of  the  Bible 
question  in  the  public  schools,  wliich  was  published  in  the  New 
York  Herald,  December  17th,  1871,  attracted  much  attention.  Both 
his  sermons  and  lectures  are  delivered  extemporaneously. 

The  following  extract  from  the  celebrated  sermon  preached  by  Dr. 
McGlynn,  on  the  occasion  of  the  reception  of  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Bradley, 
an  Episcopalian  Minister,  into  the  Catholic  Church,  fully  reveals  the 
profound  theological  knowledge  and  large-hearted  Christian  charity  of 
the  preacher: — 

"I  say  to  yon  iu  this  assemblage  who  are  not  of  our  faith,  that  I  do  not  wish  to 
be  so  misunderstood,  that  because  I  yearn  to  have  all  men  stand  where  I  stand,  I 
must  necessarily  believe  that  you  and  such  as  j^ou,  are  altogether  wrong  ;  that  you 
possess  no  part  of  the  true  faith,  and  that  you  are  inevitably  excluded  from  heaven. 
This  is  not  a  tenet  of  Catholic  Theology,  although  it  has  been  thousands  of  timea 
so  misrepresented.  I  believe  that  if  yoii  sincerely  follow  the  light  as  it  is  given  to 
you,  by  the  grace  of  God,  you  will  not  be  condemned  ;  and  I  trust  that  your  hearts 
will  be  still  further  warmed  by  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ.  While,  like  Paul,  I  wish  you 
were  all  as  I  am,  'save  these  chains,*  my  many  imperfections,  I  would  not  be  mis- 

347 


REV.     EDWARD     MCGLYNIST,     D.  D. 

understood  as  condemniug  you  for  what  you  are.  If  you  are  honestly  prepared  to 
follow  the  Saviour  ;  if  you  can  say  from  your  hearts  :  '  Lead  thou  on,  O  Lord ! 
and  I  will  follow,'  I  am  ready  to  to  take  you  by  the  hand  and  wish  you  God-speed, 
and  pray  that  grace  may  lead  you  where  you  must  knock  for  admission  to  the  Cath- 
olic Church.  If  you  are  not  as  I  am,  I  thank  God  that  you  are  what  you  are.  If 
you  are  an  Episcopalian  of  the  more  Catholic  type,  I  thank  God  that  you  practice 
80  much  that  is  Catholic.  If  you  are  a  member  of  the  Low  Church,  I  thank  God 
that  you  have  advanced  even  so  far  as  you  have.  If  you  believe  in  Christ's  divinity, 
I  thank  God  that  you  possess  so  much  Christian  truth.  If  you  only  think  of  Christ 
as  a  friend,  a  patron,  a  leader,  I  thank  God  that  you  do  so.  I,  a  Catholic  minister 
of  the  Gospel,  teach  from  this  altar  that  the  most  approved  Catholic  Theology  is,  that 
while  we  must  all  follow  the  truth,  those  who,  through  no  fault  of  their  o\vn,  are  not 
fully  informed,  are  naturally  excused  from  the  fulfillment  of  precepts,  which  they 
do  not  know,  and  will  not  be  condemned  for  their  ignorance.  It  is  necessary  lor  all 
men  to  have  the  grace  of  Catholic  communion  ;  but  if  any  man  in  perfect  honesty 
fails  to  see  the  necessity,  he  is  not  to  blame. 

"  If  any  man  should  come  to  me,  and  ask  to  be  admitted  into  the  Catholic  fold,  I 
would  say  :  '  No,  unless  your  conscience  apjDroves  of  the  step  ;  much  less  if  your 
conscience  forbids.'  I,  a  Catholic  Priest,  declare  that  you  must  obey  the  behests  of 
that  inner  tribunal  of  your  own  souls.  Nor  can  I  permit  you  to  become  a  Catholic 
while  a  doubt  still  remains.  I  will  tell  you  to  go  and  pray,  think  over  it,  seek  in- 
struction, and  only  came  back  when  your  conscience  fully  approves  of  every  Catho- 
lic dogma.     This  is  the  only  faith  I  hold  and  profess,  so  help  me  God  ! 

"Such  a  declaration  ought  to  silence  with  you  the  taunt  about  exclusive  salvation. 
"Who  will  deny  that  it  is  necessary  to  obey  the  will  of  Christ,  if  he  acknowledges 
the  Saviour  as  his  Lord  and  Master  ?  The  only  excuse  is  ignorance  of  his  precepts. 
"If,  on  the  last  day,  you  can  say  :  '  Lord,  I  did  not  know  these  precepts  ;  what  I 
did  know  I  fulfilled  to  the  best  of  my  ability;  and  if  I  transgressed,  I  have  repented.' 
He  will  not  condemn  you,  although,  perhai)S,  he  may  chide  you  for  not  having  come 
to  Him  and  asked  for  knowledge  through  prayer.  But  if  any  man  wilfully  shuts 
his  eyes  to  the  light  when  God  wishes  to  show  him  the  liglit — if  he  doubts  and  does 
not  take  every  means  in  his  power  to  remove  the  doubt — if  he  does  not  want  to 
know  God,  is  he  not  culpable  even  though  he  can  truly  say  he  is  ignorant.  It  is  not 
a  sufficient  excuse  for  a  man  to  say —  '  I  did  not  know  ; '  he  must  be  able  to  say, 
'  I  did  not  advert  that  there  was  any  obligation  in  me  of  making  further  enquiries 
after  the  truth,  as  I  believed  that  I  posessed  it.' 

"I  am  only  too  happy  to  say  with  these  reservations,  that  I  thank  God  that  you 
are  as  you  are.  I  pray  him  to  bless  and  sanctify  your  souls,  to  bring  them  all  into 
communion  with  His  own  sweet  heart,  and  to  forgive  all  the  faults  of  yonr  ignor- 
ance and  education,  and  that  great  fault  of  this  century  and  especially  of  thia 
country,  prejudice  against  every  thing  Catholic,  which  is  the  woeful  inheritance  of 
past  bad  days. "' 

Dr.  McGlynn  has  a  tall,  large  figure.  He  stands  and  walks  erect 
in  the  perfect  embodiment  of  manly  grace  and  health.  His  head  is 
also  of  large  size,  with  a  full,  round  face.  The  brow  is  bold  and 
handsome;  the  eyes  are  small  and  brilliant,  while  the  whole  expres- 
sion affords  that  blending  of  the  moral  and  intellectual,  which  makes 
the  human  countenance  most  interesting.  His  manner  ^  are  courteous, 
bland,  and  self-possessed.  He  is  never  anything  but  the  priest,  at  tlie 
same  time  that  he  is  naturally  the  couitly  gentleman.    Devoutness, 

348 


REV.      EDWARD     MCGLYNN,     D.  D. 

and  graceful  ease  of  both  speech  and  manners,  characterize  him  on 
all  occasions.  He  is  quick  and  ardent  in  his  feelings,  and  bold  and 
persevering  in  the  execution  of  his  plans. 

In  mental  capacity  and  erudition,  he  is  one  of  the  strongest  men 
of  his  church  and  the  day.  Vigor,  depth,  and  originality  are  the 
peculiarities  alike  of  his  study  and  teachings.  He  goes  in  no  narrow 
groove ;  he  follows  no  beaten  track ;  bat  he  is  one  who  rises  to  the. 
highest  action  of  personal  genius  and  virtue.  He  has  been  brilliant 
in  every  position  as  the  scholar,  and  grandly  successful  in  every  re- 
lation as  a  clergyman  and  public  man.  An  enthusiast  in  religion, 
still  to  the  fervor  of  the  devotee  he  adds  that  wide,  searching,  and 
grasping  intelligence,  which  lays  hold  of  every  living  issue  of  prin- 
ciple among  men  for  ends  of  his  own.  He  does  not  hide  away  in 
scholarly  seclusion,  but  he  loves  to  stand  in  the  blaze  of  the  sunlight 
to  uphold  his  faith  and  join  in  the  battle  of  good  against  evil.  He 
is  an  American,  thoroughly  indoctrinated  with  republican  principles, 
and  having  an  abiding  confidence  in  the  glorious  future  of  his  coun- 
try. Consequently,  he  is  the  earnest  ally  of  progress  and  enlighten- 
ment holding  that  the  Catholic  Church  will  gain  its  greatest  ascend- 
ency through  these  agencies.  In  many  particulars  his  views  are  very 
liberal,  and  while  his  opinions,  always  sincerely  and  boldly  expressed, 
have  attracted  no  little  remark  within  his  own  sect,  nevertheless  they 
have  been  too  sensible  and  practical  to  be  refuted. 

In  Ins  pulpit  he  speaks  with  the  solemn  authority  of  the  priest, 
united  with  matchless  powers  as  an  orator.  About  him  are  architect- 
ural grandeur  and  church  appointments  in  their  greatest  splendor, 
and  before  him  is  the  vast  multitude  who  hang  almost  breathless 
upon  his  lips.  No  priest  and  no  orator  can  want  more  to  inspire  him. 
But  this  man  rises  to  preach  with  a  mind  profound  in  study  and 
daily  observation,  and  a  heart  aglow  with  feeling.  Moved  by  these 
impulses  of  his  own,  he  utters  language  which  shows  the  grasp  of  this 
mind,  and  the  tenderness  of  these  emotions.  With  sentences  which 
are  as  terse  as  if  written,  though  extemporaneous ;  with  a  majesty  of 
reasoning  which  quickly  bends  the  hearer  to  its  power,  and  with  a 
music  of  voice  which  can  thrill  and  then  melt,  he  proclaims  his  mes- 
sage of  religion.  Tall  in  stature,  he  becomes  even  more  command- 
ing, and  the  fluent  tongue  is  aided  by  the  beaming  eyes  and  expres- 
sive gestures.  When  the  great  throng  hear  the  last  utterance  of  the 
sermon,  they  are  touched  and  subdued  as  are  probably  few  other  con- 
gregations of  the  city.  Faith  has  been  made  vivid  to  the  commonest 
understanding,  and  eloquence  has  won  a  new  garland. 

349 


REV.  JOHN   N.  MCJILTON,  D.D., 

LA-Ti:     RECTOR    CUP    IVI^VDISOIV    STREET    EPISCO- 


|EY  DR.  JOHTsT  K  McJILTON  was  born  in  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  and  is  over  sixty  years  of  age.  His  father 
was  a  Methodist  preacher  for  over  forty  years,  and  the 
son,  having  been  raised  regularly  in  that  faith,  became  an 
active  member  of  the  church  at  eighteen  years  of  age 
'^  At  nineteen  he  was  a  Sunday  School  Superintendent,  and  for 
many  years  he  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  jiopular  workers 
in  the  Sunday  School  cause  in  Baltimore.  If  a  Sunday  Scliool  was 
to  be  started  in  a  difficult  place,  or  a  declining  school  to  be  revived, 
the  appeal  was  always,  "  Send  McJilton.''  For  five  years  he  wallced 
six  miles  every  Sunday  morning  to  school  and  home  in  the  evening, 
without  missing  once.  At  fourteen  he  was  manager  and  speaker 
of  a  Juvenile  Society  ;  at  twenty-two  vice-president  of  the  Young 
Men's  Missionary  Society,  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Teacher's 
Aid  Society,  and  delivered  addresses  before  both  societies,  that  were 
published.  He  was  led  by  accidental  circumstances  to  read  tlie 
Episx?opal  Prayer  Book,  when  he  became  greatly  interested  in  the 
doctrines  and  forms  of  that  church.  After  serious  consultation 
with  different  Episcopal  divines,  he  became  convinced  of  the  autho- 
rity and  propriety  of  the  orders  of  the  church,  and  eventually  began 
to  study  for  the  ministrj^  He  was  ordained  as  deacon  of  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Church  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  Baltimore,  and  one 
year  later  to  the  priesthood  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Baltimore,  by 
Bishop  Whittingham.  When  ordained  he  was  teacher  of  Male  Pub- 
lic Grammar  School  No.  1,  of  Baltimore.  He  first  officiated  as  as- 
sistant minister  of  Christ  Church,  Baltimore,  under  the  Rev.  John 
Johns,  rector,  and  now  Bishop  of  Virginia.  His  active  energies 
were  soon  engaged  in  raising  a  subscription  for  building  a  church 
for  a  missionary  congregation  and  Sunday  School,  in  which  he  fully 
succeeded.     The  congregation  and  Sunday  School  were  organized  in 

350 


■'^aE.Perine  *='^°  ^*' 


REV.     JOHN-    N.     McJILTON,    D.  D. 

the  upper  story  of  a  cooper's  shop,  and  in  eight  months  a  church  edi- 
fice was  duly  completed.  The  building  was  paid  for  when  com- 
pleted, and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Whittingham,  whose  rule  was 
and  is  to  consecrate  no  church  in  debt.  During  the  period  of  study 
and  while  a  candidate  for  orders,  he  had  charge  of  St.  James'  Afri- 
can Church,  of  which  he  was  the  rector  for  seventeen  years.  He 
now  entered  upon  the  rectorship  of  St.  Stephen's,  also,  in  which  he 
continued  for  a  number  of  years.  He  had  the  old  building  of  St 
James,  taken  down,  and  a  new  gothic  building  erected,  with  a  base- 
ment for  a  Sunday  School,  which  was  always  crowded  with  pupils, 
both  adults  and  children. 

For  twenty-seven  years  he  was  chaplain  of  the  Maryland  State 
Hospital  for  the  Insane.  He  was  several  years  Superintendent  of 
the  Public  Schools  of  Baltimore  while  rector  of  St.  Stephen's  and 
St.  James'  Churches,  and  resigned  the  rectorship  of  the  former  to 
give  his  time  more  fully  to  the  schools.  He  held  the  position  of  Su- 
perintendent for  nineteen  years.  During*  the  whole  of  this  time  he 
was  chaplain  of  the  Marjdand  Hospital,  and  rector  of  one  or  other  of 
the  churches.  He  officiated  each  Sunday  at  St.  Stephen's,  once  at 
St  James',  and  once  at  the  Hospital. 

He  served  two  years  as  Diocese  Missionary  Agent  of  four  central 
committees,  ordered  by  the  convention.  He  delivered  the  prayer  at 
the  la3'ing  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  m  Wash- 
ington, and  of  the  National  Washington  Monument  in  the  same 
city,  both  of  which  prayers  are  published  in  the  reports  of  the 
])roceedings.  He  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  from  a  college  of 
Kentucky,  and  D.  D.  from  the  Masonic  University  of  Kentucky.. 
He  was  Secretary  of  the  Maryland  branch  of  the  Christian  Commis- 
sion during  the  war.  He  visited  the  battle-fields  and  wrote  appeals 
to  the  public,  reports,  etc.  Four  of  these  reports  cover  nearly  eight 
hundred  pages. 

In  the  midst  of  his  other  work  in  Baltimore,  his  literary  labors 
for  the  press  were  numerous.  He  was  editor  of  a  monthly  publica- 
tion called  the  Baltimore  Ilonumeni,  and  of  the  Baltimove  Young 
Meyis  Paper,  Baltimore  Athenceum,  Maryland  Temperance  Herald, 
weekly  periodicals.  At  a  later  period  he  edited  the  Baltimore  Pa- 
triot, a  daily  commercial  paper.  He  published  a  volume  of  poems 
of  three  hundred  and  sixty  pages  before  he  was  ordained  to  the  min- 
istry, and  has  published  numerous  volumes  of  Sunday  school  and 
other  sketches.     He  has  published  by  request,  after  delivering,  twen- 

351 


REV.     JOHN    N.     MCJILTON,    D.  D. 

ty-one  sermons.  His  addresses  and  poems  delivered  at  college 
commencements  are  numerous,  and  thirty-two  of  them  have  been 
published  by  the  institutions  before  which  tbey  were  delivered. 
Twenty  years  ago  his  nom  de  guerre  of  "  Giles  McJuiqqin  "  was  one 
of  the  best  known  of  the  day.  His  reports  while  Superintendent  of 
the  PubHe  Schools  are  replete  with  practical  suggestions  on  the  sub- 
ject of  education. 

He  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Baltimore  Young  Men's 
Society.  Young  Men's  Debating  Society,  Baltimore  Lyceum,  Mary- 
land Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  and  Society  of  the  Baltimore  Union 
Lyceum.  He  was  conspicuous  in  founding  the  institution  out  of 
which  grew  the  Maryland  Institute,  and  delivered  the  first  public 
address  before  the  institution. 

Some  years  since  he  was  induced  to  withdraw  from  his  exten- 
sive field  of  labor  in  Baltimore,  and  take  up  his  residence  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  This  was  done  for  the  purpose  of  joining  with 
the  late  John  Hecker  in  the  various  religious,  charitable,  and  educa- 
tional enterprises  which  had  been  inaugurated  by  that  gentleman. 
Dr.  McJilton  became  rector  of  the  Madison  Street  Mission  Chapel, 
and  for  several  years  labored  with  his  usual  efficiency.  He  then 
resigned,  but  continues  to  reside  in  New  York. 

The  Mission  Street  Chapel  was  formally  opened  for  divine  service 
on  Wednesday  morning,  June  17th,  1857.  The  services  were  of  an 
imposing  character.  The  Bishop  of  Mississippi,  a  number  of  other 
clergymen,  and  a  large  audience  were  present.  The  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Kev.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix.  On  this  occasion  the  choral 
service  was  first  introduced  in  this  country.  From  that  time  to  the 
present  without  intermission  there  has  been  a  series  of  daily  morning 
and  evening  prayer,  with  the  litany  on  Wednesdays,  held  at  this 
place.  During  the  services  of  the  opening,  a  communion  service  of 
solid  gold,  the  gift  of  Mr.  Hecker,  was  presented  to  the  parish,  and 
this  is  probably  the  only  one  of  the  kind  to  be  found  in  the  United 
States.  Both  this  chapel  and  the  one  in  Rutgers  street  are  well  at- 
tended at  the  daily  and  Sunday  services.  Many  of  those  who  at- 
tend are  persons  employed  in  the  Hecker  flour-mills  and  stores. 
The  Rutgers  Street  Chapel  is  located  in  a  portion  of  one  of  the 
buildings  used  as  an  immense  bakery. 

Mr.  Hecker  was  well  known  as  a  baker  and  miller  on  a  large  scale. 
The  mills  of  his  late  firm  in  New  York  are  the  most  complete  in  the 
world.    He  was  a  self-taught  and  self-educated  man.    In  fact,  he  maj 

352 


REV.    JOHN    N.     MCJTLTON,    T).  D. 

be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  of  the  age.  lie 
gave  daily  attention  to  an  immense  business,  but  was  also  con- 
stantly carrying  forward  schemes  of  religious  and  moral  duty.  It 
was  remarked  by  one  wlio  knew  him  intimately  that  in  daily  and 
exact  attention  to  religious  observances,  he  excelled  any  clergy - 
r-an  in  the  land.  Ilis  contributions  for  churches,  schools,  and  dif- 
ferent charities  amounted  to  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  He  was  the  author  of  a  work  on  the  "  Scientific  Basis  of 
Education,"  which  shows  most  profound  and  original  thought. 
Learning  of  the  career  of  Dr.  McJilton  in  Baltimore,  Mr.  Hecker  in- 
vited him  to  join  him  in  New  York.  Another  plan  of  Mr.  Hecker 
was  the  establishment  of  a  Normal  School,  for  the  education  of  teach- 
ers upon  a  plan  of  classifiication  according  to  the  human  faculties, 
of  which  he  was  the  originator,  and  which  he  discusses  in  his  book. 

Dr.  McJilton  is  under  the  average  height,  well-proportioned,  erect, 
and  active.  He  has  a  large  head,  with  regular  features.  Ilis  man- 
ners are  entirely  plain  and  unassuming.  He  is  of  cheerful,  genial 
disposition  ;  and  while  his  countenance  is  always  pleasant  and  happy, 
his  words  and  manners  are  warm  and  sincere.  A  man  of  vast  ex- 
perience with  all  classes  of  persons,  and  of  a  critical  and  intelligent 
observation,  his  conversation  is  always  interesting  and  instructive. 
As  a  preacher,  he  excels  in  practical,  logical  reasoning,  and  in  tender 
and  feeling  appeals  to  the  heart. 

Our  record  oi  him  is  complete,  and  tells  its  own  suggestive  story. 
No  man  in  public  life  has  toiled  harder  or  more  successfully. 
Thoughtless  of  himself,  but  brave,  earnest,  and  uuAvearying  in  every 
field  of  effort  and  duty,  he  has  accomplished  the  work  of  not  one 
man,  but  many  men.  His  talents  are  varied,  and  his  energies  are 
only  equaled  by  his  fidelity  to  every  cause  in  which  he  has  been 
engaged. 

353 


REY.   JOHN   NIEL   MCLEOD,  D.D.,* 

JP^(STl>ir      OF-     THE     nilST      IlEFOXilMED     I>RE8- 
EtYTEIlIA.]V    CJtXXJRCH,    ]VE"W    YORIt. 


)EV.  JOHN  KIEL  McLEOD  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  October  lltb,  1806.  He  is  the  son  of  the  late  dis- 
tinguished Eev.  Dr.  Alexander  McLeod,  for  a  long  period 
pastor  of  the  First  Reformed  Ciiurch.  He  was  graduated 
at  Columbia  College  in  1826,  and  in  theology  at  the  The- 
^^  ological  Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  Phil- 
adelphia, in  1828.  Accepting  a  call  to  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Gralway,  Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  he  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled December  28th,  1829,  and  remained  as  pastor  for  about  two 
years.  In  April,  1832,  he  was  called  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the 
First  Church,  New  York,  as  an  assistant  to  his  father,  and  in  Janu- 
ary following  was  made  colleague,  and  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Alexander 
McLeod,  in  February,  he  became  and  has  since  remained  the  pas- 
tor. Dr.  McLeod  thus  speaks  of  the  close  of  his  father's  ministra- 
tion and  life :  "'It  was  a  matter  of  agreement  between  him  and  me 
that  he  would  undertake  the  morning  service,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
and  that,  should  he  become  exhausted,  I  must  be  prepared  to  take 
up  and  continue  the  exercise  whenever  he  should  lay  it  down. 
Sometimes  he  would  be  able  to  go  through  almost  the  entire  morn- 
ing duty.  Again,  he  would  be  found  competent  only  to  the  brief 
exposition  of  the  Psalm  ;  and  on  other  occasions  he  could  proceed  no 
further  than  the  second  prayer,  and,  breaking  off  abruptly,  leave  me 
the  lecture  which,  in  coming  to  the  house  of  God,  he  had  hoped  to 
have  exhibited  himself.  There  were  occasions,  too,  when  on  appear- 
ing in  the  sanctuary  he  would  find  himself  unable  to  ascend  the 
pulpit  stairs,  and  the  entire  service  would  thus  be  devolved  upon 
his  assistant.     But  when  he  did  appear,  whether  it  was  for  the  few 

*  Rev.  Dr.  McLeod  departed  this  life,  April  27th.  1874,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his 

Bffo,  and  forty-sixth  of  his  ministrv.  - 

354 


BEV.    JOHN    NIEL    McLEOD,    D.D. 

moments  or  the  bour,  it  was  evident  to  all  that  it  was  the  body,  not 
the  mind,  that  was  enfeebled  by  disease  ;  and  therj  were  sometimes 
strokes  of  eloquence,  and  burstings  forth  of  power,  and  utterances  of 
a  matured  spirituality  that  told  that  the  old  fire  was  still  burning 
within  him,  and  that,  if  he  was  to  preach  no  more,  it  was  not  because 
his  mighty  mind  had  failed  hira.  but  simply  because  his  work  was 
done.  It  was  on  one  of  these  occasions  that  he  preached  his  last 
sermon.  His  subject  was  '  Death.'  It  was  the  second  of  two,  the 
first  of  which  had  been  preached  some  time  before.  He  had  not  fin- 
ished all  he  desired  to  say  in  the  first,  and  resumed  the  subject  when 
able  to  appear   again." 

The  First  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of  New 
York  was  organized  at  the  close  of  the  year  1797,  with  twelve  or 
fifteen  members,  being  the  fourth  of  the  Presbyterian  organizations 
in  point  of  date.  The  first  preaching  was  held  in  school-rooms,  work- 
shops, and  other  humble  places  of  the  kind.  As  early  as  1790 
prayer  meetings  and  preaching  took  place  at  the  house  of  John  Ag- 
new,  No.  14  Peck  slip.  The  records  of  the  church  furnish  the  fol- 
lowing statement  under  date  of  July  lOth,  1799  :  "  The  following 
subscription  is  intended  for  each  Sabbath  that  we  have  a  sermon  : 
John  Agnew,  1  dollar ;  Andrew  Gifford,  1-2  ;  James  Donaldson.  3 
shillings ;  Duncan  Campbell,  1-4  ;  James  Nelson,  1-4  ;  David  Chu-k, 
1-4;  Samuel  Radcliff,  1-4;  John  Thomson,  1-4;  Mrs,  Boggs,  1  4 ; 
Hugh  Small,  1-4;  James  Smith,  1-4:  Yfilliam  Tait.  1-4;  Mrs. 
Fisher,  1-4;    W.  Acheson,  1-4  ;   Betty,  6  pence;   Letty,  6  pence." 

Pev.  Dr.  Alexander  McLeod  was  installed  as  first  pastor  on  the 
6th  of  July,  1801,  and  had  attained  to  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  his 
ministry  at  the  time  of  his  death.  As  previously  stated  ihe  Rev, 
Dr,  John  N,  McLeod  became  the  colleague  of  his  father,  and  suc- 
ceeded him. 

The  completion  of  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  Dr.  John  N,  McLeod's 
ministry  was  marked  by  the  presentation  of  a  piece  of  plate  and  six 
hundred  dollars  on  the  part  of  the  congregation.  The  plate  bore 
this  inscription:  ''Presented  to  Rev,  John  Niel  McLeod,  D.  D,, 
with  six  hundred  dollars,  by  the  First  Reformed  Presbyterian  Con- 
gregation, as  a  testimonial  of  affection  to  their  pastor,  and  commem- 
orative of  the  completion  of  the  twenty -fifth  year  of  bis  pastorate. 
New  York,  Jan,  14th,  1858," 

In  1801  a  frame  church  edifice  was  erected  on  Chambers  street, 
which  was  rebuilt  of  brick  in  1818.     A  prolonged  litigation  took 

355 


REV.    JOHN    KIEL    McLEOD,   D.D. 

place  in  regard  to  Ibis  property.  The  place  of  worship  was  changed 
to  other  places;  and  finally  the  Union  Presbyterian  Church  in  Prince 
street  was  purchased  for  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  edifice  in 
Twelfth  street  now  used  by  the  congregation  was  first  occupied  in 
1849.  The  whole  property  cost  forty  thousand  dollars.  There  is 
no  debt.  For  more  than  twenty  years  the  congregation  paid  one- 
third  of  the  salary  of  Dr.  Campbell,  missionary  in  Northern  India. 
At  the  termination  of  this  arrangement  the  subscriptions  were  dou- 
bled, and  in  addition  the  salary  of  John  Niel  McLeod,  a  converted 
Mohammedan  missionarj^  in  India,  was  pledged.  A  plot  of  thirty- 
two  lots  is  owned  in  Greenwood  Cemetery.  In  1848  the  First  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Church  of  Brool^lyn  was  organized  by  mem- 
bers from  Dr.  McLeod's  congregation ;  and  in  1851  the  Second 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York  was  organized  by  a 
colony  from  the  First  Church.  In  twenty-five  years  the  number  of 
members  in  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  communion  increased  from 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  to  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
forty-five. 

Dr.  McLeod  was  elected  Professor  of  Doctrinal  Theology  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  Phil- 
adelphia, in  1851,  which  position  he  resigned  in  1853  ;  was  re-elected 
and  declined  in  1855,  and  again  elected  and  accepted  in  1858.  He 
received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Dickinson  College  in  1846.  He 
was  one  of  the  celebrated  committee  of  fifteen  of  the  American 
Tract  Society,  to  w^liich  was  referred  the  question  as  to  the  duty  of 
the  Society  in  regard  to  the  issuing  of  publications  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  The  committee  reported  that  publications  bearing  upon 
this  subject  ought  not  to  be  issued.  Di\  McLeod  was  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  of  nine  appointed  by  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety to  make  a  thorough  revision  of  the  Scriptures  in  reference  to 
grammatical,  typographical,  and  other  errors.  The  burden  of  the 
work  was  accomplished  by  a  sub-committee  of  three,  of  which  Dr. 
McLeod  was  chairman.  In  August,  1855,  he  was  a  delegate  in  the 
Paris  Conference  to  form  an  Evangelical  Alliance  for  the  world. 
He  passed  about  six  months  in  the  field  during  the  late  war,  as  chap- 
lain of  the  Eightj^-fourth  regiment  New  Yorlc  troops.  He  is  editor 
of  The  Banner  of  the  Cross,  published  in  Philadelphia.  His  other 
publications  are  a  variety  of  sermons,  addresses,  &c.  A  sermon, 
advocating  capital  punishment,  caused  quite  a  sensation  at  the  time 
Df  its  delivery,  in  1842. 


KEV.    JOHN    NIEL    McLEOD,    D.  D. 

In  1873,  after  some  forty  years  of  service,  an  assistant  was  pro 
vided  for  Dr.  McLeod. 

He  is  about  of  the  average  height,  of  full,  round  person,  erect 
and  active  for  his  years.  His  head  is  round,  with  small,  regulai 
features,  well-marked  intellectual  characteristics,  and  a  thoughtful, 
composed  expression.  He  is  not  without  a  considerable  amount  of 
dignity,  but  his  whole  bearing  is  that  of  the  utmost  courtesy.  He 
speaks  with  much  deliberation,  and  readily  imparts  tine  impression 
of  his  large  mental  acquirements,  earnest  piety,  and  genial  disposi- 
tion. There  is  a  degree  of  cheerfulness  about  him,  and  a  vevy  deci- 
ded animation  at  times,  but  his  clerical  character  is  always  thor- 
oughly maintained. 

Dr.  McLeods  style  of  speaking  is  of  the  old-fashioned  stamp. 
The  Reformed  Presbyterians  are  an  earnest  and  sincerely  pious  peo- 
ple, clinging  to  the  strict  letter  of  their  faith  in  all  things.  Hence 
a  popular  minister  among  them  must  be  a  man  learned  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  showing  in  his  own  life  and  character  the  truths  which 
he  reveals  and  the  principles  he  inculcates.  Dr.  McLeod  exhibits 
all  this  profundity  in  his  discourses,  and  illustrates  his  faith  in  all 
his  daily  walks.  As  a  writer  he  is  clear,  pointed,  and  argumenta- 
tive, and  sometimes  very  emphatic,  but  never  indulges  in  anything 
like  ornate  fancy  or  impassioned  eloquence.  He  speaks  in  the  same 
way.  He  has  a  tone  of  distinctness  and  authoritativeness,  and  a 
calm,  sincere  manner.  In  a  word,  he  is  a  marked  type  of  the  class 
of  religionists  of  whose  doctrines  he  is  so  conspicuous  an  upholder, 

357 


REV.  W.  NEILSON  McYICKAR, 

KECTOK     OT^     THi:    HOIL."!^     TltllVTTY     E  E»ISCOr»A  L. 
CilUXlOII,  (lIAllLIC^vr,)    IV33W   YORIt, 


W.  NEILSON  McVICKAR  is  the  son  of  Dr.  J. 

A.  McVickar,  an  old  and  esteemed  physician  of  New 
1^  York,  and  was  born  in  that  cit}^  October  19th,  1843.  He 
was  graduated  at  Columbia  College  in  1865,  and  in 
Theology  at  the  General  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary,  New 
York,  in  1868.  Prior  to  his  graduation  at  the  seminary,  he 
became  an  assistant  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  H,  Tyng,  at  St.  George's 
Church,  in  which  position  he  remained  until  September,  1868.  At 
this  date  he  accepted  a  call  to  his  present  parish,  which  had  been  re- 
cently organized  in  the  section  of  New^  York  known  as  Harlem. 

The  parish  of  the  Holy  Trinity  Church  was  organized  through 
the  efforts  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  his  son.  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen 
H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Cotton  Smith,  and  others,  who  desired 
to  found  in  that  portion  of  the  city  an  Episcopal  church  to  specially 
represent  low  church  views.  More  than  this,  the  ancient  parish  of 
St.  Andrews  had  become  very  large,  and  a  second  church  was  much 
needed  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  increased  and  increasing  population. 
Hence,  in  September,  1867,  religious  services  were  appointed  to  be 
held  at  the  Methodist  Church,  on  One  Hundred  and  Twentj^-fifth 
street  near  Sixth  avenue,  which  were  conducted  by  Di-.  Tyng. 
After  being  conducted  in  this  building  for  a  period,  they  were  held 
at  the  Baptist  Church,  and  later  at  National  Hall.  In  the  summer  of 
1868  an  organization  of  a  new  parish,  under  the  title  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  Churcli,  was  accomplished  with  the  most  flattering  prospects. 
A  call  was  given  to  Mr.  McVickar  in  July,  which  he  accepted  in  the 
following  September,  having  in  the  meantime  severed  his  connection 
with  St  George's  Churck  The  congregation  increased  with  great 
rapidity,  many  persons  of  other  denominations  than  the  Episcopalian 
becoming  indentified  with  it,  and  steps  were  soon  to,ken  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  church  edifice.     A  very  fine  site,  embracing  lots  one  hun- 

35a 


REV.     W.     NEILSON     MCVICKAR. 

dred  feet  by  one  hundred  and  ten  feet,  was  secured  on  the  corner  of 
Fifth  avenue  and  One  Hundred  and  Twenty -fifth  street,  where,  op 
the  5th  of  May,  1869,  tlie  corner-stone  of  the  new  building  was  laid 
by  Bishop  Potter,  of  the  diocese,  assisted  by  Dr.  Tyng,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  numerous  assemblage.  The  ground  cost  twenty-iive  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  the  building  which  has  been  erected  cost  about  six- 
ty thousand  dollars.  It  is  of  yellow  and  red  brick,  and  is  an  impos- 
ing and  beautiful  structure,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  about  nine 
hundred.  The  interior  is  handsomely  decorated,  and  presents  many 
])leasing  architectural  and  artistic  effects.  There  is  a  fine  organ, 
which  cost  seven  thousand  two  hundred  dollai-s.  The  opening  ser- 
vices were  held  one  year  from  the  date  of  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone, ]\[ay  5th,  1870.  In  1873  Mr.  McVickar  received  a  call  to  a 
church  in  Boston,  at  a  salary  of  six  thousand  dollars  a  year,  but  he 
declined  to  go.  A  strong  attachment  exists  between  himself  and  his 
present  people,  and  the  growth  and  future  prospects  of  the  parish 
were  such  as  to  induce  both  to  wish  the  relations  between  them  to  be 
continued.     His  summer  vacation  of  1873  w^as  passed  in  Europe. 

Mr.  McVickar  is  a  tall,  large  person,  standing,  we  should  think, 
over  six  feet  high.  He  is  erect,  and  a  splendid  specimen  of  manly 
development  and  grace.  His  head  is  also  large,  with  regular  features, 
and  he  has  light  complexion  and  hair.  You  observe  much  of  that 
intelligence  and  amiability  in  his  face  which  not  only  prove  the  re- 
fined and  genial  man,  but  one  of  force  and  judgment  as  well.  His 
bearing  shows  entire  self-possession  and  no  little  dignity. 

His  religious  views  are  liberal.  Because  he  is  an  Episcopalian, 
he  is  not  running  a  tilt  with  ail  other  denominations,  but  is  on  the 
best  possible  terms  with  each  of  them.  He  desires  to  be  an  evangel- 
izer  of  all  men  in  the  fullest  sense,  and  he  welcomes  all  to  his  com- 
munion. In  his  congregation  are  those  orig-inally  Methodists  and 
Baptists,  who  all  meet  on  the  liberal  Episcopalian  footing  which  is 
to  be  maintained  in  Holy  Trinity  Church.  In  this  he  accomplished 
true  Christian  union,  and  gives  his  church  a  vitality  and  strength 
which  are  of  the  highest  advantage  to  the  welfare  of  the  community 
at  large. 

Mr.  Mc  Vickar  has  excellent  capabilities  as  a  popular  preacher. 
Although  an  Episcopalian,  he  has  cultivated  the  habit  of  extempo- 
raneous speaking,  and  much  of  his  sermon  is  delivered  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment  He  is  naturally  a  good  speaker,  having  an  abundant 
flow  of  language,  and  a  warm,  earnest  delivery.     A  close  thinker, 

359 


REV.     W.     NEILSON     MCVICKAR. 

and  fertile  in  his  imagination,  be  does  not  find  it  difficult  either  to 
argue  or  declaim,  and  his  sermons  lose  nothing  in  force  and  brilliancy 
bj  being  extemporaneous,  but  rather  gain  in  both  power  and  elo- 
quence. 

He  is  an  ardent  Christian,  and  a  thorough-going  worlvcr.  There 
is  no  holding  back,  no  lukewarmtiess,  but  he  throws  his  heart  and 
mind  into  his  work  with  their  utmost  zeal.  Consequently  when  he 
rises  to  speak  he  is  full  of  his  theme,  and  strong  for  his  labor.  As 
far  as  he  has  written  anything  it  is  comj)rehensive  and  sincere;  and 
when  he  enlarges  upon  it,  as  the  fresh  and  vigorous  thoughts  crowd 
upon  him,  he  becomes  effective  in  a  high  degree.  His  audience  is 
sure  to  be  carried  with  him,  for  he  fliscinates  from  the  beginning. 
Clothed  in  his  pulpit  habiliments  there  are  few  clergymen  who  present 
a  more  impressive  pi'esence.  His  fine  stature,  and  his  erect,  com- 
manding attitude,  are  striking.  When  to  this  is  added  his  eloquence 
and  popular  style,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  is  well  fitted  to  make  his 
mark  as  a  preacher. 

His  career  is  before  him.  Thus  far  much  has  been  preparation; 
but  now  he  has  entered  upon  the  real  work  of  his  life.  The  field  is 
wide,  and  will  yield  an  abundant  harvest.  Guided  by  judgment, 
devoted  through  faith,  able  in  mind,  and  earnest  in  heart,  pure  and 
self-sacrificing  in  character  and  life,  this  young  husbandman  is  one 
who  will  surely  till  it  according  to  God's  own  command. 

360 


RKY.  SYLVESTER  MALONE, 

T»A^STOR  or  SA.IT>i^TS  PETER  AlVD  I»JlUIL.»S  CA.T:H0- 


EV.  SYLVESTEE  MALONE  was  born  in  Meath,  Ire- 
land, in  1821,  and  emigrated  to  the  United  States  wben 
seventeen  years  of  age.  He  was  graduated  at  St.  John's 
College,  Fordhara,  and  ordained  to  the  Catholic  priest- 
hood in  1844.  Sent  to  the  Eastern  District  of  Brooklyn, 
^  then  known  as  Williamsburg,  with  a  population  of  only  ten 
thousand  souls,  he  undertook  the  charge  of  the  first  Catholic 
congregation  there.  His  energy  and  piety  were  very  strikingly  ex- 
hibited, and  his  flock  increased  greatly.  In  a  short  time  he  built  the 
handsome  and  substantial  edifice,  known  as  Saints  Peter  and  Paul's 
Church.  He  was  the  first  priest  to  introduce  the  Gothic  style  of 
architecture  into  the  building  of  Catholic  churches,  now  so  generally 
admired  and  followed.  Twelve  or  more  parishes  have  grown  out  of 
this  single  congregation  in  a  period  of  twenty-nine  years. 

Says  a  statement,  regarding  Father  Malone:  "As  a  pulpit  orator, 
he  is  eloquent  and  fervid;  his  sermons  are  all  extempore,  and  of  a 
pure  elevated  style.  During  the  late  civil  war  his  patriot  record  will 
long  be  remembered  by  every  lover  of  free  institutions.  *  *  * 
When  the  great  Fair  for  the  benefit  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  took 
place,  he  was  one  of  its  most  active  supporters.  When  his  Ward 
was  trying  to  raise  their  quota  for  the  army,  he,  unsolicited,  gener- 
ously gave  one-fourth  of  his  salarj'-  for  a  year  for  that  object.  It 
may  truly  be  said  of  him  that  he  is  more  American  than  the 
Americans  themselves.  As  a  minister,  he  is  distinguished  for  an 
intense  desire  to  instill  and  disseminate  the  principles  of  Christian 
charity,  avoiding  all  sectarian  controversy,  and  illustrating  the  truths 
of  his  religion  by  a  life  replete  with  good  deeds  to  his  fellow-men." 

In  appearance.  Father  Malone  shows  both  physical  and  intellectual 
powers.  His  head  is  large,  with  a  broad  face,  which  is  highly  ex- 
pressive of  his  talents,  energy,  and  amiability.  He  is  respected  by 
all  classes,  and  has  accomplished  a  work  in  the  ministry  of  great 
importance  to  his  denomination.  3(ji 


REY.  G.  HENRY  MATOEYILLE,  D.  D., 

PASTOR    OF    THE     FIRST     HEFO-RMIED     CHURCH, 
(HA.RIL.EM:)    ]VETV    YORIt. 


EV.  DK.  G.  HENRY  MANDEVILLE  was  born  in  the 
Citj  of  New  York,  December  12th,  1825.  His  parents 
removed  to  Morris  County,  New  Jersey,  when  he  was 
^^  some  two  or  three  years  old,  and  he  was  brought  up  in 
that  section.  He  prepared  for  college  at  a  school  at  Hack- 
ensack,  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Mabon.  He 
was  graduated  at  Rutger's  College,  New  Brunswick,  in  1848, 
and  at  the  Theological  Seminary  at  the  same  place  in  1851.  In 
the  same  year,  immediately  upon  the  close  of  his  studies,  he  accepted 
a  call  to  the  Reformed  Church  at  Flushing,  Long  Island,  where 
he  was  duly  ordained  and  installed.  He  remained  with  the  Flushing 
congregation  for  a  little  over  eight  yearsj  doing  a  most  acceptable 
work  both  as  a  minister  and  a  citizen.  While  thei'e  he  delivered  a 
lecture  on  Flushing  in  a  course  for  the  benefit  of  the  village  poor, 
which  was  subsequently  published  in  a  small  volume,  with  illustra- 
tions, under  the  title  of  "  Flushing  Past  and  Present,"  and  is  the 
best  historical  sketch  of  the  place  extant.  In  1859  he  was  called 
to  the  Reformed  Church  at  Newburg,  New  York,  where  he  remained 
for  a  period  of  more  than  ten  years.  On  the  1st  of  November,  1869, 
he  was  installed  as  the  pastor  of  the  First  Reformed  Church  ol 
Harlem,  and  successor  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jeremiah  S.  Lord,  who  had 
departed  this  life  in  the  previous  Spring.  Dr.  Mandeville  received 
his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Rutger's  College  in  1870. 

The  venerable  First  Reformed  Church  has  a  very  interesting 
history.  With  the  exception  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Church, 
the  First  Church  of  Harlem,  or,  more  strictly  speaking,  located  on 
the  corner  of  Third  avenue  and  121st  street.  New  York  city,  is  the 
oldest  church  organization  on  Manhattan  Island,  having  been  founded 
more  than  one  hundred  and  eighty  years  ago.  It  is  difl&cult,  if  not 
quite  impossible,  according  to  the  best  authority  on  this  subject,  to 
ascertain  with  precision  when  a  church  organization  was  first  effected 
in  the  district  known  as  Harlem.     Dutch  settlers  were  there  very 

362 


,^^r' 


'//'T-^Z^ 


^-^^^^^^^.^^^ 


REV.      G.      HENRY     MANDEVILLE,     D.  D. 

early,  but  whether  they  were  in  connection  with  the  Collegiate 
Church,  or  whether  they  were  formed  into  a  distinct  church,  there 
are  no  records  to  show.  It  is  stated  in  the  old  Dutch  records  of 
Harlem  that  on  September  30th,  1686,  the  Rev.  Henricus  Solyns 
preached  the  first  sermon  in  a  new  church  then  built,  and  adminis- 
tered the  Lord's  Supper.  Hence  there  was  then  a  church  and  a 
hoase  of  worship.  The  want  of  records  prevents,  also,  any  definite 
information  concerning  the  names  of  the  ministers  who  may  have 
officiated  for  nearly  one  hundred  years.  The  first  minister  of  whom 
there  is  any  definite  account  was  the  Rev.  Martinus  Schoonmaker, 
who  held  the  pastoral  office  at  Harlem  previous  to  1785,  and  who 
officiated  tliere  and  at  Gravesend,  Long  Island ;  but  lie  left  in  that 
year,  and  became  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Church  in  Flatbush,  wliere  he 
died  May  10th,  1824,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty -seven  years.  It 
is  not  known  jjrecisely  how  long  he  had  preached  at  Harlem.  Up 
to  this  time  it  is  supposed  that  the  services  at  Harlem  had  been  con- 
ducted in  the  Dutch  language,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  preaching 
in  that  language  was  continued  after  this  date.  After  the  dismission 
of  Mr.  Schoonmaker,  the  church  remained  without  a  stated  pastor 
for  nearly  six  years. 

In  September,  1791,  a  call  was  accepted  by  the  Rev.  John  F. 
Jackson,  who  remained  as  pastor  for  more  than  thirteen  years,  re- 
signing in  April,  1805.  Immediately  after  this  the  church  extended 
a  call  to  the  Rev.  Philip  Milledoler,  which  he  declined ;  but  the  pas- 
torship was  accepted  by  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Romeyn,  who  settled  in 
April,  1806.  After  alDout  seven  j'Cars  some  difficulties  arose,  and 
Mr.  Romeyn,  at  his  own  request,  was  dismissed  from  the  church  by 
the  classis.  The  trouble  continued  for  some  time,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  Autumn  of  1816  that  another  minister  was  finally  called. 
The  Rev.  Cornelius  Vermeule  accepted  the  call  in  September  of 
that  year,  and  continued  his  labors  with  the  congi'egation  for  twenty 
years.  He  resigned  his  charge  in  October,  1836 ;  and,  after  a  vacancy 
of  something  over  a  year,  the  Rev.  Richard  Schoonmaker  was  or- 
dained in  March,  1838,  who  j-emained  nearly  ten  years  pastor  of  the 
church.  For  about  a  year  the  church  was  without  a  pastor,  when 
Dr.  Lord  accepted  a  call  in  1848.  He  was  the  pastor  for  twenty-one 
years,  until  his  death,  in  April,  1869.  His  ministry  was  marked  by 
three  revivals,  during  one  of  which,  in  1852,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  persons  united  with  the  church. 

The  original  church  building  stood  on  the  plot  formerly  known  as 
the  "old  burying-ground,"   bounded  by  First   avenue,  124th   and 

;i5a 


REV.     G.     HENRY     MANDEVILLE,     D.  D. 

125th  streets.  Here,  in  a  lane,  stood  tbe  original  edifice  until  about 
the  year  1789,  when  it  was  removed,  and  a  new  church  erected  in 
its  place.  The  church  was  attended  by  many  persons  from  West- 
chester County  ;  and  it  is  related  that  some  of  the  females  made  it  a 
habit  to  wash  their  feet  in  Harlem  river  as  they  crossed  it  on  tlieir 
way  to  church.  The  congregation  worshipped  in  a  granary  while 
the  new  church  was  being  built.  The  spire  was  ornamented  by  a 
golden  vane  and  ball,  which  is  now  on  an  outbuilding  on  the  estate 
of  the  Hon.  Judge  Ingraham.  This  structure  was  removed  in  1826, 
and  in  1827  the  large  frame  building  on  the  corner  of  Third  avenue 
and  121st  street,  now  occupied  by  the  congregation,  was  finished.  It 
is  one  of  tbe  finest  of  the  old-time  edifices.  A  large  porch,  reached 
by  twelve  steps,  fifteen  feet  deep,  and  extending  the  whole  width  of 
tbe  front,  has  four  semi-Corinthian  columns,  supj^orting  an  imposing 
pediment,  a  cupola,  and  belfry.  The  whole  of  tbe  upper  portion  of 
the  building  is  the  church  proper.  It  contains  one  hundi'ed  and 
forty-eight  pew-^,  and  has  comfortable  accommodations  for  one 
thousand  people.  The  pulpit  is  at  tbe  west  end,  or  rear,  and  imme- 
diate! v  behind  it  is  a  large  recess,  containing  an  organ  and  accom- 
modations  for  the  choir.  In  the  rear,  and  adjoining  the  church,  is 
another  building,  containing  the  consistory  rooms,  Bible-class  rooms, 
pastor's  study,  etc.     The  bell  in  use  was  cast  in  Holland  in  1734. 

There  are  about  three  hundred  members,  and  three  hundred 
children  in  the  Sunday  school.  Three  colonies  have  been  sent  from 
the  congregation  to  found  other  churches,  and  many  have  united 
with  churches  in  Yorkville,  Manhattanville,  and  Carmansville.  It 
is  the  owner  of  much  valuable  real  estate,  and  may  be  ranked  as  one 
of  tbe  wealthiest  congregations  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Mandeville  is  of  tbe  medium  height,  with  a  round,  solid,  and 
erect  figure.  His  head  is  round,  with  a  fine  brow,  and,  altogether,  a 
genial,  happy  expression.  His  manners  are  polite  and  cordial  with 
all  persons.  Without  the  slightest  pretension  iu  any  waj^,  he  ex- 
hibits all  the  dignity  which  is  necessary  to  his  calling;  and  appears 
to  every  one,  as  he  is,  a  most  amiable,  refined,  and  pious  man.  He 
has  firmness  and  nerve,  but  these  do  not  so  much  appear  until  the 
time  of  action  arrives.  In  ordinary  intercourse  it  is  his  geniality 
and  cheerfulness  which  are  most  observed.  He  is  an  active  and 
busy  man  in  his  pastoral  office.  Feeling  to  the  fullest  extent  its  re- 
sponsibilities, he  discharges  them  with  a  conscientiousness  and 
fidelity  that  greatly  endear  hiiu  to  his  people.  He  goes  among  them 
with  words  of  gentleness  and  piety,  and   deeds  of  sympathy  and 

364 


REV.     G.     HENRY     MANDEVILLE,     D.  D. 

love.  But,  after  all,  he  is  no  flatterer,  no  lip-server,  and  no  trifler 
with  indiscretions  and  wrong-doing.  He  is  stern  and  strict  to  every 
moral  and  religious  principle  and  duty,  though  otherwise  so  gentle 
of  heart.  A  man  of  a  great  deal  of  practical  observation  and 
thought,  he  is  intelligent  and  efficient  in  every  action  of  life. 

In  the  pulpit  he  displays  similar  characteristics  with  those  which 
distinguish  him  in  personal  intercourse.  Modesty,  sincerity,  and  all 
due  gravity  are  to  be  observed  in  both  speech  and  manners,  and  with 
it  all  a  tenderness  and  conscientiousness  that  show  the  pure  and 
loving  heart  He  writes  in  good,  plain  English,  and  is  far  more  in- 
clined to  serious  reflections  than  to  fancy,  though  the  latter  is  not 
altogether  disregarded.  A  ripe  scholar,  he  expounds  the  Scriptures 
with  clearness  and  force,  and  his  intelligent  observations  among  men 
lead  to  the  unfolding  of  views  which  are  always  sound  and  practical. 
Hence  his  sermons,  without  any  attempt  at  oratory  in  their  delivery, 
produce  a  most  favorable  impression  with  both  converted  and  non- 
converted  hearers.  They  are  luminous  with  great  truths,  stated  in 
original  language  and  new  forms;  filled  with  the  interest  and  fellow- 
feeling  of  a  well-informed  and  good  man  in  the  every-day  affairs 
of  life,  and  infused  with  the  comfoi'ting  and  inspiring  spirit  of  one 
who  seeks  to  be  a  friend  and  brother. 

The  ministerial  character  has  its  highest  significance  when  dis- 
played in  the  person  of  a  man  like  Dr.  Mandeville.  He  has  given 
it  neither  the  affectation  nor  the  eccentricity  of  which,  in  these 
times,  it  so  much  partakes.  But  he  walks  before  his  fellow-men  with 
humility  and  devoutness  which  are  in  imitation  of  the  Master,  and 
accorcling  to  His  command  to  His  apostles.  At  the  same  time  he 
maintains  the  dignity  and  influence  of  his  profession.  His  habits, 
character,  and  opinions  leave  no  question  that  in  all  things  he  is 
a  consistent  servant  of  God.  Consequently  in  him  the  ministry 
has  not  only  one  of  its  most  efficient  members,  but  the  community 
a  most  influential  and  valuable  citizen.  He  needs  no  apologists 
for  his  actions  and  opinions.  At  all  times  these  stand  forth  in  the 
beauty  of  purity  and  truth. 

All  honor  to  such  a  minister  and  man.  An  example  to  his 
fellow-men,  he  is  made  worthy  by  his  talents  and  labors  of  high 
professional  renown.  Earnest  in  the  line  of  duty,  through  a  suc- 
cession of  important  pastorships  ;  standing,  under  all  circumstances, 
a  bulwark  of  religion  and  virtue,  he  is  justly  to  be  regarded  as  one 

of  the  most  valuable  men  of  the  church  and  community. 

3Gr> 


REV.  WILLIAM  8.  MIKELS,  D.  D., 

PAJSTOR     OF    TH-B     ©TA.jVTO]V     STRIJET     13A.I»TI©T 
CHURCH,    ]VEW  YORIt, 


|EV.  DR  WILLIAM  S.  MIKELS  was   born   in  Orange 
County,    New  York,    May  18th,    1820.      His  academiu, 
collegiate,   and  theological  studies  were  all  pursued  in  the 
different  departments  of  Madison  University,  at  Hamilton, 
^■^j  New  York.     He  was  graduated  at  the  College  in  1843, 

and  at  the  Seminary  in  1845.  He  was  first  settled  over  the 
Baptist  church  at  Rondout,  Leister  County,  New  York,  where  he  was 
ordained  and  installed  during  the  year  1845,  and  remained  in  this 
position  about  four  years  and  a  half.  His  next  charge  was  the 
Baptist  church  at  Sing  Sing,  where  he  officiated  for  more  than  six 
years.  On  the  1st  of  November,  1856,  he  was  installed  as  the  pastor 
of  the  Sixteenth  Street  Baptist  Church,  New  York,  where  he  la- 
bored for  seventeen  years.  In  May,  1873,  greatly  to  the  regret  of 
the  congregation,  he  resigned  the  pastorship.  For  some  time  his 
health  had  been  declining.  In  the  spring  of  1874  he  accepted  a  call 
to  the  Stanton  Street  Baptist  Church,  New  York. 

Dr.  Mikels  is  slightly  under  the  medium  height,  equally  propor- 
tioned, and  has  a  short  neck  and  a  good-sized  head.  His  face  is 
pretty  well  covered  with  whiskers.  His  features  are  small,  and  his 
countenance  is  highly  expressive  of  amiability  and  kindness.  He 
evidently  desires  to  appear  as  a  plain,  unassuming  man  in  all 
respects.  His  disposition  is  a  cheerful  one,  and  he  is  always  (bund  a 
genial  and  interesting  associate. 

We  wrote  as  follows  of  Dr.  Mikels  at  the  time  of  his  labors  in  the 
Sixteenth  Street  Chufch  :  "  He  is  eminently  a  man  of  the  people,  and 
goes  about  his  religious  work  without  any  preferences  as  to  the  class 
among  whom  he  shall  seek  converts.  He  comes  to  all,  as  humble- 
minded  as  the  least  of  them,  and  he  rears  his  altar  in  the  midst  of  the 
dwellings  of  those  in  moderate  circumstances,  the  poor,  in  the  locality 
of  stores,  saloons,  and  tenement  houses.     Crowds  go  to  hear  him. 


KEV.     WILLIAM    S.     MIKELS,    D    D. 

He  has  wliat  is  best  described  as  a  live  congregation.  There  are  old 
and  young — throngs  of  botli  sexes — and  nearly  all  are,  like  their 
minister,  earnest  in  the  religious  work.  Whole  classes  in  the  Sunday 
school  ai'e  converted,  and  the  fires  of  revival  burn  on  month  after 
month.  Why  is  it?  In  one  word,  because  the  pastor  is  particularly 
adapted  for  his  work,  because  he  makes  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
and  the  awakening  of  the  sinner  his  sole  duty,  leaving  utterly  out 
of  the  question  all  thoughts  of  personal  ease,  emolument,  and  ambi- 
tion. He  takes  hold  of  the  gigantic  evils  of  the  day,  of  the  rum- 
shops  and  Sabbath-breaking,  the  vices  and  temptations  which  every 
one  of  his  hearers  confront  in  his  or  her  walks,  which  are  to  be  seen 
about  the  very  portals  of  the  sanctuary,  and  he  preaches  of  moral 
and  Christian  duty  under  such  circumstances. 

"  He  speaks  effectually  because  he  speaks  truthfully  and  eamestly. 
His  sermons  are  very  well  composed,  but  if  they  were  not  the  sub- 
ject matter  and  the  manner  of  the  man  would  be  sufficient  to  claim 
attention.  He  is  not  prim  and  starched,  bvit  might  be  some  intelligent 
mechanic  or  storekeeper  in  the  pulpit.  He  is  not  deep  and  learned 
in  his  modes  of  expression,  but  is  plain,  homely,  and  practical,  just 
as  are  the  hearers  before  him.  Such  a  man  and  such  a  speaker  has 
necessarily  a  large  influence,  and  Dr.  Mikels  is  no  exception  to  the 
rule.  He  has  the  undivided  attention  of  his  audience.  He  is  their 
equal,  companion,  friend,  and  pastor,  and  in  all  these  relations  they 
have  learned  to  love  him.  They  attend  to  his  teachings,  and  he 
leads  them — fathers,  mothers,  sons,  daughters,  brothers,  and  sisters, 
old  and  young — to  the  altar. 

*'He  is  a  revivalist,  and  in  every  way  a  go-ahead,  untiring 
worker  in  the  ministry.  Bold  and  firm  in  his  opinions,  and  yet 
always  kindly  in  his  manner  of  expressing  them  ;  sincere  and  de- 
termined in  his  efforts  for  the  redemption  of  the  lost,  he  has  obtained 
a  wide  reputation  in  his  sect,  and  is  individually  admired  and  be- 
loved by  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact." 

Dr.  Mikels  has  much  to  be  proud  of  in  his  city  ministry.  He 
raised  his  congregation  to  the  highest  point  of  prosperity  which  it 
has  ever  known,  and  its  influence  has  been  greatly  felt  in  the  neigh- 
borhood in  which  it  is  located.  Certainly,  his  ministry  has  not  been 
without  abundant  return  for  his  fidelity  to  duty  and  unwearying 
energy. 

367 


REV.  WILLIAM  H.  MILBURN, 

I^A-TE    I»A.©TOTi    OF    TilE    JOIllV    ST.    IMETHOOIST 
CJHUllCH,    3VEW    YOKIt. 


lEV.  WILLIAM  H.  MILBUKN  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
September  26th,  1823.  When  five  years  of  age  he  was 
struck  in  the  eye  with  a  piece  of  iron  hoop,  being  at  play 
with  some  boys  throwing  at  a  mark.  Ilis  eye  recovered, 
but  a  protuberance  existed  which  affected  the  downward 
'^  vision.  Caustic  was  applied,  which  became  so  severe  that  the 
boy  resisted,  and  in  his  struggle  with  the  physician,  both  eyes  were 
dashed  with  it.  As  a  remedy  for  this  new  misfortune,  they  were 
kept  bathed  with  a  solution  of  sugar  of  lead  for  two  years,  but  the 
pupils  became  so  much  injured  that  very  imperfect  sight  remained 
only  in  the  left  corner  of  the  right  eye. 

In  May,  1838,  his  father  removed  to  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  The 
almost  blind  but  persevering  youth  now  became  a  clerk  in  his  fa- 
ther's store,  and  at  the  same  time  pursued  studies  which  he  had  al- 
ready undertaken.  He  could  manage  to  see  by  having  a  projected 
shade  over  the  eye,  and  then  placing  the  hand  convexly  shaped  be- 
neath it,  and  leaning  the  body  forward  at  an  angle  of  forty -five  de- 
grees. One  letter  was  as  much  as  he  could  distinguish  at  a  time. 
Says  another :  "  At  his  place  by  the  door  in  summer,  and  at  a  window 
in  winter,  sitting  in  a  constrained  posture,  he  received  the  sunlight 
of  knowledge,  as  it  were,  through  a  crevice  in  the  roof  instead  of  by 
the  effulgence  poured  in  through  surrounding  windows,  and  besides 
the  disability  of  sight,  suffering  from  the  incessant  interruptions  con- 
sequent upon  strict  attention  to  the  store,  and  the  constant  ear- vigil- 
ance necessary  to  distinguish  customers  from  idlers." 

He  entered  the  freshman  class  of  Illinois  College,  situated  at 
Jacksonville,  in  1839,  still  continuing  his  clerkship.  In  the  spring 
of  1843,  his  last  collegiate  j^ear,  his  health  declined,  and  study  was 
interdicted.  His  ailments  were  a  slight  curvature  of  the  spine  and 
some  internal  organic  complaints. 

368 


.o^ 


Jt/^  iitc/.^^^ 


REV.    WILLIAM    H.    MILBURN. 

From  an  early  period  he  had  looked  to  the  ministry  as  his  future 
profession.  As  it  now  became  necessary  for  him  to  i-ide  on  horse- 
back, the  Methodist  presiding-  elder  of  the  district  in  which  he  lived 
urged  that  he  should  accompany  him  in  traveling  his  circuit  and  assist 
in  preaching.  The  following  is  an  interesting  account  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  plan  was  carried  out : 

"His  father  furnished  him  with  a  horse,  saddle,  and  sadd!e-bafs; 
his  mother  fitted  him  with  a  grayish-blue  jean  suit  (a  homespun 
woolen  fabric,  tlie  coarse  quality  of  which  goes  under  the  name  of 
linsey-woolsey),  and,  thus  accoutred,  with  over-coat  strapped  on  the 
saddle,  he  starts  forth,  in  company  with  the  presiding  elder,  as  an 
itinei'ant  preacher,  to  make  the  first  acquaintance  with  his  circuit. 
He  had  never  rode  before  to  any  amount,  but  at  the  end  of  two  and 
a  half  days  an  appointment  one  hundred  miles  distant  was  punctu- 
ally attained.  His  theological  course  had  also  commenced,  with  the 
good  elder  as  the  professional  corps,  the  Bible  his  text-book,  the 
saddle  his  meditation  seat,  and  God's  wide,  beautiful  earth  the  sem- 
inary. The  appointment  was  a  quarterly  meeting,  held  in  a  double 
log-cabin — that  is,  a  cabin  with  two  i-ooms,  on  the  floors  of  whicii 
the  preachers  slept  at  night.  The  meeting  began  at  one  o'clock  on 
Sunday  afternoon,  with  a  sermon  b}^  the  elder.  In  the  evening  the 
local  preacher  officiated,  at  the  close  of  which  service  the  elder,  with- 
out warning,  spoke  out  in  an  imperious  voice — '  Brother  Milburn, 
exhort ! '  and  thus,  standing  behind  a  splint-bottomed  chair,  '  Brother 
Milburn  '  made  his  first  address  to  a  religious  assembly,  and  his  pro- 
fession was  entered  at  the  age  of  nineteen." 

During  this  summer  he  traveled  a  region  of  one  thousand  miles, 
preaching  constantly.  In  September,  on  his  twentieth  birthday,  he 
was  admitted  as  a  "  traveling  preacher  "  to  the  Illinois  Conference. 
Two  years  later  he  was  directed  by  the  Conference  to  proceed  to  the 
East  and  solicit  funds  for  the  establishment  of  Methoilist  schools  and 
colleges  in  the  West.  Being  on  board  a  steamboat  on  the  Ohio  river, 
when  Sunday  came  he  was  invited  to  preach.  He  bad  been  excess- 
ively pained  during  the  trip  at  the  blasphemy,  drunkenness,  and 
gambling  which  prevailed  among  the  passengers,  and  especially  in 
the  case  of  certain  congressmen,  then  on  their  way  to  Washington. 
When  he  took  his  place  to  begin  the  services,  he  found  that  these 
persons  had  been  provided  with  front  seats,  and  resolved  to  admin- 
ister a  public  rebuke  to  them.  Accordingly,  in  the  course  of  his 
remarks,   he  said :    "  Among  the  passengers  in  this  steamer  are  a 

369 


REV.     WILLIAM    H.     MILBURN. 

number  of  members  of  Congress,  and,  from  their  position,  they 
should  be  examples  of  good  morals  and  dignified  conduct ;  but,  from 
what  I  have  heard  of  them,  they  are  not  so.  The  union  of  these 
States,  if  dependent  on  such  guardians,  would  be  unsafe,  and  all  the 
high  hopes  I  have  of  the  future  of  my  country  would  be  dashed  to 
the  ground.  These  gentlemen,  for  days  past,  have  made  the  air 
heavy  with  profane  convei'sation,  have  been  constant  patrons  of  the 
bar  and  encouragers  of  intemperance — nay,  more;  the  night,  which 
should  have  been  devoted  to  rest,  has  been  dedicated  to  the  horrid 
vices  of  gaming,  profanity,  and  drunkenness.  And,"  continued  the 
preacher,  with  great  solemnity,  ''  there  is  but  one  chance  of  salvation 
for  the  great  sinners  in  high  places,  and  that  is,  to  humbly  repent  ol 
their  sins,  call  on  the  Saviour  for  forgiveness,  and  reform  their 
lives." 

Mr.  Milburn  shortly  returned  to  his  state-room,  where  a  purse  of 
money  was  brought  to  him  in  the  name  of  the  congressmen,  with  the 
request  that  he  would  accept  it  as  a  testimonial  of  their  resj^ect  for 
his  character  and  appreciation  of  his  sermon.  The  congressmen  were 
not  disposed  to  let  the  matter  end  even  here,  for  they  proposed 
Mr.  Milburn  for  chaplain  of  Congress,  to  which  position  he  was 
elected. 

In  1847  Mr.  Milburn  went  to  the  South,  and  for  six  years  labored 
in  Montgomery,  Mobile,  and  elsewhere.  To  show  the  extent  of  his 
exertion,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  during  five  years  of  this  period 
he  preached  fifteen  hundi'ed  times  and  traveled  sixty  thousand  miles. 

lie  was  re-elected  chaplain  of  Congress,  and  held  the  office  until 
March,  1855.  He  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  before  the  Lowell 
Institute,  Boston,  entitled  •'  Sketches  of  the  Early  History  and  Settle- 
ment of  the  Mississippi  Valley."  Other  lectures  bear  the  titles — 
"Songs  in  the  Night,  or  the  Triumph  of  Genius  over  Blindness;  " 
"  An  Hour's  Talk  About  Women;  "  "  The  Southern  Man  ;  "  "  The 
Rifle.  Axe,  and  Saddle-bags,  "  "Symbols  of  Early  Western  Charac- 
ter and  Civilization."  These  lectures  were  delivered  in  all  the  prin- 
cipal places  in  the  Union.  In  1859  he  visited  England,  in  company 
with  Bishop  Simpson  and  Eev.  Dr.  McClintock,  and  delivered  lectures 
in  the  chief  cities  to  crowded  audiences.  During  the  same  year  he 
published  "  Ten  Years  of  a  Preacher's  Life,"  and  in  the  following 
year  ''  Pioneers  and  the  People  of  the  Mississippi  Valley." 

At  one  time  Mr.  Milburn  was  the  pastor  of  the  Pacific  street 
Methodist  Church,  Brooklyn  ;  his  last  appointment  was  at  the  John 

370 


REV.    WILLIAM    H,     MILBURN. 

street  Church,  New  York.  He  subsequently  became  an  Episcopalian. 
He  was  ordained  deacon  in  1865,  and  priest  in  1866  by  Bishop  Hop- 
kins of  Vermont.    In  1871  he  returned  to  the  Metiiodist  communion. 

Most  of  his  time  is  spent  in  traveling  in  this  country  or  Europe. 
His  more  recent  lectures  are  '"  What  a  Blind  Man  Saw  in  Paris,"  and 
"  What  a  Blind  Man  Saw  in  California." 

Mr.  Milburn  has  never  entirely  recovered  from  bis  spinal  com- 
plaint, and  is  obliged  to  remain  in  a  horizontal  position  during  a 
portion  of  each  day.  His  sight  is  now  so  nearly  destroyed,  that  he 
is  unable  to  read  at  all,  and  just  dimly  distinguishes  the  outline  of 
objects  in  a  favorable  light  and  position.  He  recognizes  acquaint- 
ances by  the  voice,  and  judges  of  character  by  the  intonation  as 
others  do  from  expression.  He  moves  about  in  familiar  places  with- 
out difficulty,  and  often  travels  unattended,  trusting  to  the  kindness 
of  strangers.  His  memory  is  very  remarkable.  While  at  college  a 
student  came  to  his  room  with  a  volume  of  "  Chalmer's  Astronom- 
ical Discourses,"  and  read  a  half  or  two-thirds  of  one  of  them,  in 
which  young  Milburn  became  greatly  interested,  and  requested  to 
have  it  read  again.  After  this  was  done  he  said — "  Thank  jou  !  I 
have  it  now." 

"  What  do  you  mean — have  what  ?  "  asked  the  student. 

"  Why,  I  have  that  sermon,"  was  the  reply  o£  Milburn,  who  at 
once  repeated  the  part  he  had  heard  verbatim. 

After  his  marriage,  in  1846,  his  wife  became  his  principal  reader. 
At  some  periods  she  read  to  him  ten  hours  a  day  for  weeks  together, 
four  or  five  hours  at  a  sitting,  and  sometimes  fifteen  hours  out  of  the 
twenty-four.  When  in  Brooklyn,  the  ladies  of  the  congregation  per- 
formed this  service  for  him,  very  much  to  his  pleasure  and  their  own 
profit.  Says  another:  "His  habit  at  present,  when  wishing  to  com- 
mit a  new  chapter  preparatory  to  public  worship,  is  to  have  it  read 
to  him  on  the  previous  day,  and  he  repeats  it  after  the  reader  verse 
by  verse,  and  then  in  sets  of  four  verses,  commencing  each  time  at 
the  beginning  of  the  chapter.  With  one  reading  of  the  chapter  there- 
after he  is  prepared  to  go  through  it  before  an  audience  without  a. 
possibility  of  failure.  Poetry  he  commits  with  greater  facility  than 
prose.  He  is  perfectly  familiar  with  the  hynm-book,  and  can  prob- 
ably repeat  most  of  ihe  New  l^estament,  and  considerable  portions  of 
the  Old.  His  retention  of  names,  dates,  facts,  and  conversations, 
seems  to  be  equally  good,  the  only  difference  of  power  being  between 
the  committing  of  prose  and  poetry. 

371 


REV.     WILLIAM    H.     MTLBURN. 

Ml".  Milburn's  success  in  overcoming  the  difficulties  presented  to 
him,  as  a  student,  and  minister,  by  his  blindness,  is  among  the  mar- 
vels. He  stands  a  living  and  noble  example  of  the  fruits  of  that 
patience  which  is  unwearying,  and  that  desire  for  learning  which 
cannot  be  defeated  in  its  aim.  The  eager  spirit  which  neither  ac- 
knowledges control  nor  can  bear  delay  must  entirely  fail  in  any 
conception  of  the  task  by  which  this  sightless  enthusiastic  executed 
his  heroic  resolution.  At  noonday  the  tired  student  may  look  upon 
the  face  of  nature,  beaming  with  its  manifold  beauties ;  or,  as  his 
midnight  lamp  grows  dim,  he  may  turn  his  gaze  to  the  firmament 
St '.idded  with  its  starry  worlds  ;  but,  through  these  long  and  patient 
hours — through  these  weeks  and  months,  lengthening  into  years — 
this  student-preacher  found  that  even  the  little  ray  with  which  he  lit 
up  the  pages,  letter  by  letter,  was  fading  into  eternal  gloom.  Still 
he  persevered,  as  within  his  mind  there  was  rising  a  light  of  knowl- 
edge, which  burned  as  a  sun  to  his  feet,  and  was  more  delightful 
than  could  be  the  fragrance  of  all  flowers  to  his  nostrils.  Great  has 
been  his  courage  and  lofty  his  ambition  in  such  a  struggle  with  mis- 
fortune; but  he  has  gained  treasures  to  make  beautiful  his  days  on 
earth,  and  which  enable  him,  with  clearness  of  mental  vision,  to  be  a 
guide  to  those,  like  himself,  hopeful  of  the  celestial  land  beyond. 

Mr.  Milburn  is  of  a  slight  figure,  and  has  a  thoughtful  and  inter- 
esting face.  His  sightlessness  throws  a  melancholy  shadow  over  his 
features,  but  so  amiable  and  intelligent  is  the  expression,  that  the 
gaze  willingly  lingers  in  their  contemplation. 

In  the  pulpit  he  has  an  eloquence  bej'-ond  his  words.  To  think 
that  he  is  blind,  and  still  able  to  conduct  an  entire  church  service,  is 
to  fill  the  mind  with  thoughts  approaching  veneration.  Pj-csently 
his  soft,  sweet  voice  recites  a  hymn  and  then  a  chapter  from  the 
Bible.  You  miss  the  books,  but  there  is  a  new  fascination  in  the 
sacred  words  spoken  from  the  memory  of  the  eloquent  blind  man- 
His  sermon  is  equally  impressive.  It  has  all  the  characteristics  of 
an  extempore  address,  and  is,  in  truth,  delivered  but  slightly  from 
memory.  He  is  not  boisterous  and  declamatory,  like  most  of  the 
Methodist  ministers,  but  proceeds  calmly,  tenderly,  and  always  elo- 
quently. His  effort  is  to  be  entirely  natural,  and  to  touch  the  heart 
rather  than  amaze  the  mind.  At  times  he  shows  great  depth  of 
feeling  with  his  subject,  and  becomes  more  animated  in  his  delivery. 

372 


REV.  D.  HENRY  MILLER,   D.D., 

I»A.8T01?t  OF   TH.H  I'LYMIOUTII  BA.I»TI©T  CIIXJIICH:, 


EV.  DR  D.  HENRY  MILLER  was  born  in  the  island 
of  Jersey,  one  of  the  islands  in  the  English  Channel, 
belonging  to  Great  Britain,  October  31st,  1825.  He  is, 
however,  of  strictly  Araerican  parentage  ;  his  birth  having 
\!^  occurred  while  Lis  parents  were  traveling,  and  he  was  brought 
t^  in  infancy  to  the  United  States.  Among  the  heroes  of  Bunker 
Hill  was  one  of  his  ancestors.  After  attending  a  classical  academy,  he 
entered  the  Wilbraham  (Mass.)  Wesleyan  Theological  Seminary,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1842.  He  was  ordained  in  the  Baptist  ministry 
at  Stonington,  Conn.,  December  12th,  1847.  He  supplied  the 
pulpit  of  the  Stanton  Street  Baptist  Church,  New  York,  for  some 
time,  and  in  May,  1849,  became  settled  as  the  j^astor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  at  Yonkers,  New  York,  where  he  preached,  with  marked  suc- 
cess, for  eight  j-ears. 

In  April,  1857,  he  went  to  a  church  at  Meriden,  Conn.,  where  he 
continued  until  August  28th,  1862,  when  he  became  the  chaplain  of 
the  Fifteenth  Regiment  of  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  with  them 
joined  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  was  in  the  field  for  nearly  two 
years.  He  accepted  a  call  to  the  First  Church  of  Trenton,  N,  J.,  in 
J  864,  where  he  officiated  for  three  years  and  nine  months.  In  1867 
he  organized  the  Broad  Street  Baptist  Church  of  Elizabeth,  N.  J., 
where  a  magnificent  church  edifice  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Here  he  introduced  an  order  of  public 
worship  before  unknown  in  the  Baptist  churches,  which  provoked,  as 
such  matters  always  do,  a  great  deal  of  favorable  and  unfavorable 
criticism.  He  remained  at  Elizabeth  until  1872,  when  he  resigned 
his  pastorship  and  accepted  another  at  the  Worthen  Street  Church, 

Lowell,  Mass.    His  wife's  health  failing,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  that 

373 


REV.     D.     HENRY    MILLER,    D.  D. 

place,  and  he  then  accepted  a  call  to  his  present  pastorship  at  the 
Plymouth  Baptist  Church,  in  Fifty -first  street,  New  York.  This  con- 
gregation was  formed  about  1870,  by  a  number  of  persons  who  left 
the  congregation  in  Forty-second  street,  with  the  Kev.  Dr.  Isaac 
Wescott,  who  was  the  pastor  until  his  retirement  from  the  ministry 
by  reason  of  age  and  infirmities.  Dr.  Miller  was  installed  on  Sunday, 
October  26th,  1873. 

In  all  his  charges.  Dr.  Miller  has  been  a  very  efficient  and  success- 
ful pastor.  Up  to  1874  he  had  received  by  baptism  into  the  churcb 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-two  persons.  During  his  pastorship  at 
Trenton  alone  he  received  two  hundred  and  ninety-nine  persons. 
While  at  Yonkers  he  was  the  editor  of  a  Baptist  magazine.  He  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  the  University  at  Hamilton, 
N.  Y.,  in  1854:,  and  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  University  at  Louis- 
burg,  Pa.,  in  1867. 

Dr.  Miller  is  a  most  persuasive  and  eloquent  preacher.  His 
manner  in  the  pulpit  is  that  of  a  man  entirely  at  his  ease  and  at 
home  with  his  hearers.  Then  he  has  a  soft,  pleasant  voice,  which  is 
sincere  and  truthfid  in  its  every  tona  Gentle  as  a  woman  in  his 
nature,  he  shows  that  he  possesses  the  power  of  scholarship  and  the 
zeal  to  save.  His  audiences  are  drawn  toward  him  by  an  irresistible 
fascination,  and,  consequently,  his  sermons  make  a  deep  and  abiding 
impression. 

In  appearance  he  is  tall  and  slender,  with  an  intellectual  head. 
His  face  is  cheerful  and  amiable.  With  quiet  and  courteous  manners, 
he  unites  a  fluent  and  interesting  flow  of  conversation.  Happily 
adapted  for  his  work,  he  pursues  it  greatly  to  the  enlargement  of  his 
denomination,  and  to  the  advantage  of  society  at  large. 

374 


REY.  DAVID  MITCHELL, 


I»A.BTOI«.  OTT'  THE    CAJSA.JL,    STREET    (IRISH)  I>RE8- 
BYTERI^iV     CHURCH,    IVEAV    YORIt. 


EV.  DAVID  MITCHELL  was  born  in  the  city  of  Glas- 
gow, Scotland,  May  3d,  1838.  He  received  his  education 
at  the  Glasgow  University,  where  he  was  graduated  in 
the  collegiate  course  in  1854,  and  in  the  theological 
course  in  1858.  In  the  same  year  he  became  a  licentiate  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  settled  over  St,  Luke's  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Glasgow  where  he  remained  several  years.  He  felt 
a  great  desire,  however,  to  make  the  United  States  the  field  of  his 
ministry,  and  about  eight  years  since  he  put  his  plan  of  coming  to 
this  country  into  effect,  and  arrived  safely  in  New  York.  His  first 
position  in  this  country  was  as  assistant  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rogers  at 
the  South  Dutch  Church,  corner  of  Twenty-first  street  and  Fifth 
avenue,  where  he  officiated  acceptably  for  about  eight  months.  He 
also,  during  the  same  period,  discharged  pastoral  duties  at  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  Houston  street.  He  was  called  to  the  Canal 
street  (Irish)  Presbyterian  Church  in  November,  1867,  and  was 
installed  December  15th,  1867. 

This  congregation  is  one  of  the  old  organizations  of  the  city  of 
New  York.  When  the  population  was  dense  in  the  lower  wards  it 
was  second  to  none  in  numbers  and  wealth.  A  fine  church  building 
stood  on  lots  in  the  rear  of  Canal  street,  and  the  entrance  was  under 
the  buildings  on  that  street.  The  late  distinguished  Rev.  Dr.  Mc- 
Cartee  was  the  pastor  for  about  thirty-five  years.  He  was  a  very 
noted  and  popular  preacher  of  his  day,  and  drew  such  crowds  that 
often  the  pulpit-stairs  were  invaded  by  the  audience,  in  their  desire 
to  obtain  seating  accommodations.  Dr.  McCartee  finally  left  the  con- 
gregation and  went  to  Newburgh.  He  died  a  very  old  man  a  few 
years  since.  He  was  j)resent,  in  an  extremely  feeble  condition,  at 
the  dedication  of  the  present  building  of  the  congregation.      The 

church  property  was  at  length  sold  by  a  portion  of  the  trustees  for 

375 


REV.      DAVID     MITCHELL. 

about  thirty-five  tbousand  dollars,  but  another  portion  refused  to 
concur  in  the  sale — consequently  the  matter  was  in  litigation  for 
some  fifteen  years,  sometimes  with  decisions  favorable  to  the  church, 
and  at  others  adverse  to  it.  Meanwhile  the  property  rose  in  value 
to  several  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  finally  all  the  parties  to  the 
suit  determined  that  the  best  course  was  to  compromise,  and  get  out 
of  court.  The  building  had  been  destroyed  by  fire  during  a  celebra- 
tion of  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  a  new  but  smaller  edifice  was  erected 
fronting  on  Greene  street.  This  was  dedicated  in  1805,  when  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Jndkin.  formerly  of  Washington  College,  Virginia,  was  the 
temporary  pastor.  In  the  settlement  which  was  made  in  the  suit  the 
church  received  this  building  and  ground,  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
in  cash.  Ten  thousand  dollars  of  this  was  used  to  pay  a  mortgage 
on  the  property,  and  the  balance  of  forty  thousand  dollars  is  the  pre- 
sent endowment  of  the  church.  Hence  it  is  entirely  free  from  debt, 
and  is  likewise  conducted  on  the  free  principle  in  regard  to  pews. 
Until  Mr.  Mitchell  was  called  there  was  no  regularly  settled  pastor 
for  a  number  of  years.  The  number  of  members  at  this  time  is 
about  one  hundred,  and  there  is  a  small  Sunday  school.  Mr. 
Mitchell  established  and  conducted  daily  prayer  meetings  for  several 
months,  which  were  well  attended. 

The  church  is  not  well  located  for  a  congregation  large  in  num- 
bers, or  even  of  well-to-do  people,  but  it  is  located  where  the  Gospel 
ought  to  be  preached,  if  anywhere.  The  congregation  is  composed 
of  a  respectable  class  of  Irish,  Scotch,  and  American  Presbyterians, 
who  cling  to  the  organization  by  reason  of  its  old  and  revered 
memories,  and  because  it  is  a  fi'ee  church.  Wealth  and  fashion  have 
swept  by,  and  in  their  room  have  come  much  poverty  and  vice. 
These  latter  are  not  social  elements  to  be  left  to  themselves,  although 
wealth  and  fashion  seem  to  think  so.  Squallor,  licentiousness,  and 
laziness  have  advanced  to  the  very  doors  of  this  temple,  and  had  its 
poor  but  earnest  members  shown  no  more  concern  for  perisning  souls 
than  the  richer  pai"t  of  the  congregation,  it  would  have  been  over- 
thrown long  ago.  But  they  have  stood  impregnable  at  their  altar, 
and  their  faith  and  devotion  have  preserved  it  as  almost  the  only 
bulwark  left  to  morality  and  Christianity  in  that  neighborhood. 

Mr.  Mitchell  feels  the  necessity  and  responsibility  of  his  work 
where  he  is,  and  it  will  be  continued  with  fidelity  and  zeal.  During 
the  time  he  lias  been  in  charge  of  the  congregation  there  has  been  a 

new  interest  evinced  in  the  church  by  the  people  of  that  section, 

376 


EEV.     DAVID     MITCHELL. 

which  has  been  much  promoted  by  the  daily  prayer  meeting-s.  He 
is  making  use  of  all  these  influences  to  strengthen  and  build  up  the 
congregation,  and  give  it  something  of  the  power  which  it  former!  v 
enjoyed,  not  only  in  the  Presbyterian  denomination  but  more 
especially  as  an  efficient  missionary  agent  in  tne  lower  portion  of  the 
city. 

Mr.  Mitchell  is  of  the  medium  height,  compactly  made,  and  looks 
healthy  and  vigorous.  He  has  a  large  head,  witli  small  light  eyes, 
and  a  ruddy  complexion.  In  his  manners  there  is  some  little  reserve, 
but  nothing  to  detract  from  genial,  pleasant  intercourse  with  him. 
He  IS  sedate  and  sensible  in  the  whole  tendency  of  his  mind  and 
actions.  In  truth,  his  heart  and  head  are  thoroughly  in  his  religious 
work.  All  his  personal  characteristics  are  kind,  agreeable,  and  sin- 
cere, but  it  is  readily  to  be  seen  that  his  thoughts  are  turned  chiefly 
to  a  painstaking  and  unceasing  attention  to  matters  relating  to  the 
eternal  welfare  of  his  fellow-men.  Nothing  can  wean  him  away, 
even  for  an  hour,  from  the  one  o'  ject  of  his  life,  and  all  his  ambition. 
He  is  a  pastor  to  his  people — a  messenger  of  Christ  in  the  full 
scriptural  sense.  His  duties  are  discharged  under  a  recognition  of 
responsibility,  and  not,  as  in  so  many  cases,  as  mere  routine  acts  of  a 
professional  life.  Wlierever  he  goes,  he  is  certain  to  walk  in  the 
light  of  the  steps  of  the  Master,  and  whatever  he  says  to  the  inquir- 
ing soul  is  said  with  the  ardor  of  faith,  but  with  humility  of  spii'it 
He  belongs  not  to  the  class  of  vain,  selfish,  worldly  young  men  who 
go  into  the  ministry  rather  to  display  talents  than  to  save  souls.  He 
is  humble  ;  he  loves  the  poor  ;  he  is  not  afraid  of  the  rough  places  of 
the  ministry  and  its  hard  work.  His  longing  eyes  are  not  placed  on 
any  reward  which  the  approbation  and  partiality  of  man  can  give,, 
but  only  on  the  imperishable  crown  which  is  the  inheritance  of  the 
just. 

Of  course  a  man  with  these  characteristics  and  principles  is  not 
one  for  display  in  the  pulpit.  He  enters  it  devoutly,  and  there  is  a 
total  abnegation  of  himself  while  he  is  in  it.  With  manners  of  great 
modesty  and  humility,  with  an  ever  apparent  seriousness,  he  ad- 
(b-esses  himself  solely  to  the  duties  of  the  hour,  regardless  of  all  save 
the  eternal  welfare  of  his  fellow-men. 

377 


IlEY.  HENRY  EGLINTON  MONTGOMERY,  D.  D. 


fITECTOTfc    OF     TUB    CHURCH     OF     THE     ITSTCA^RIVA.* 
TIOIV,    (I3PISCOPA.il,,)     3VEW    YOKIt. 


SJ^PEY.  DR.  HENRY  EGLINTON  MONTGOMERY  was 
^^iRw  ^°™  ^"  Philadelphia,  December  9th,  1820.  His  father 
f(?^PS  P'^ii'ticipated  in  the  war  of  1812.  and  was  appointed  Post- 
S^^  master  of  Philadelphia  by  General  Harrison.  The  subject 
<|p  of  our  notice  was  graduated  at  the  University  of  Philadelphia 
C~3  in  1839,  being  assigned  the  honor  of  pronouncing  the  valedic- 
tory address.  After  studying  law  for  some  time  in  the  office  of  Hon. 
Joseph  R.  Ingersoll,  of  Philadelphia,  he  traveled  in  Europe,  having, 
at  the  same  time,  a  position  in  connection  with  the  American  legation 
at  Copenhagen.  Returning  to  the  United  States,  he  entered  the  Gen- 
eral Theological  Seminary  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  New  York,  in 
the  summer  of  1843,  and  was  ordained  June  28th,  1846.  He  was  rec- 
tor of  All  Saints'  Church,  Philadelphia,  for  many  years,  and  in  1855 
removed  to  New  York,  having  been  called  to  the  Church  of  the 
Incarnation,  his  present  field  of  labor.  In  September,  1846,  he 
married  Margaret  Augusta,  daughter  of  Judge  James  Lynch,  of  New 
York,  grand-daughter  of  Thomas  Tillotson,  M.  D.,  a  surgeon  in  the 
revolutionary  war,  and  subsequently  Secretary  of  State  of  oSTew  York, 
and  grand  niece  of  Chancellor  Livingston. 

An  interesting  volume  has  recently  been  issued  for  private  circula- 
tion, entitled  "  A  Genealogical  History  of  the  Family  of  Montgomery, 
including  the  Montgomery  Pedigree."  It  is  a  very  complete  work 
of  its  kind,  and  the  record  is  traced  back  in  an  unbroken  chain  to 
Roger  de  Montgomerie,  Earl  of  Montgomerie,  who  flourished  in  the 
North  of  France  in  the  ninth  century.  A  native  of  Neustria  him- 
self, his  ancestors  were,  probably,  for  many  generations  back,  natives 
of  that  province,  which,  when  conquered  by  the  Northmen,  was  after- 
ward known  as  Normandy.  The  family  came  into  England  with 
William  the  Conqueror,  and  became  distinguished  in  that  country, 
and  also  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.     Dr.  Montgomery  belongs  to  the 

378 


REV.     HENRY     EGLINTON     MONTGOMERY,     D.  D. 

line  of  descent  from  Hugh,  fifth  Earl  of  Eglinton,  and  the  last  of  that 
title  of  the  male  line  of  the  family.  This  Scottish  Earl,  foreseein^j- 
tliat  he  would  die  childless,  and  wishing  to  divert  the  title  from  his 
cousin,  Sir  Neil  Montgomery,  made  a  resignation  of  his  earldom  in 
1611,  and  settled  the  Earldom  of  Eglinton  and  Lordship  of  Kilwin- 
ning on  his  cousin  Sir  Alexander  Seton.  The  earl  died  in  1612,  and 
it  was  only  after  the  title  had  been  kept  in  abeyance  for  two  years 
that  James  VI  consented  to  its  assumption  by  Sir  Alexander.  The 
male  representative  of  the  family  of  Montgomery  is  John  T.  Mont- 
gomery, Esq.,  a  lawyer  of  Philadelphia.  The  first  of  the  name  who 
settled  in  America  was  Wm.  Montgomerie.  He  crossed  the  ocean 
with  his  young  family  in  1701-2,  and  located  on  Doctor's  Creek,  in 
Monmouth  county.  East  Jersey.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends.  His  estate  known  as  Eglinton  is  still  in  the  possession 
of  his  descendants.  It  was  but  a  few  miles  from  the  scene  of  the 
battle  of  Monmouth,  the  British  ai'my  encamping  on  Montgomery 
Hill  the  night  before  the  engagement.  General  Richard  Montgomery, 
of  revolutionary  fame,  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  came  to  America  in 
1772.  Many  members  of  the  American  branch  of  the  family  of 
Montgomery  have  been,  and  are,  distinguished  in  the  various  profes- 
sions, and  names  are  to  be  found  quite  as  illustrious  as  those  gracing 
the  annals  in  other  lands. 

Dr.  Montgomery's  congregation  worship  in  a  very  fine  new  struc- 
ture on  the  corner  of  Madison  avenue  and  Thirty-fifth  street  The 
Church  of  the  Reconciliation  is  a  flourishing  mission  maintained  by 
them. 

Dr.  Montgomery  has  published  various  addresses  and  sermons,  and 
a  collected  volume  of  the  latter  for  publication.  In  November,  1860, 
he  delivered  the  address  at  the  one  hundred  and  eleventh  celebration 
of  the  Society  of  the  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

He  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  altogether  of  a  good  figure. 
His  head  is  large,  round,  and  decidedly  intellectual.  He  has  a 
very  fair  complexion.  He  dresses  in  the  clerical  style,  and  his 
deportment  is  dignified.  In  personal  intercourse  he  is  polite, 
cordial,  and  communicative.  Evidently  an  excellent  judge  of 
human  nature,  he  is  not  long  in  detecting  those  worthy  of  his 
appreciation  and  confidence.  He  is  a  popular  man,  and  his  ac- 
quaintances are  generally  his  friends.  His  attainments  are  extensive 
and  thorough.  He  has  what  may  be  called  a  discreet  ambition.  He 
seeks  distinction,  and  labors  constantlv  with  the  view  of  reaching  the 

379 


REV.      HENRY     EGLINTOISr     MONTGOMERY,     D.  D. 

honors  open  to  him ;  but  he  desires  nothing  which  doe,=5  not  come  as 
a  tribute  to  meiit,  and  which  will  not  serve  as  an  aid  in  his  holj  mis- 
sion to  men.  While  he  does  not  seek  honors  in  order  to  make  them 
mere  decorations  for  personal  vanity,  he  is  earnest  in  the  effort  to 
secui-e  them  to  mark  the  advancement  of  scholarship,  and  make  more 
illustrious  the  annals  of  the  church. 

Dr.  Montgomery  is  an  eloquent,  impressive  preacher.  His  sermons 
are  carefully  composed  compositions,  and  he  has  a  most  self-possessed 
and  graceful  delivery.  His  subject  is  not  only  deeply  reflected  upon, 
but  he  is  at  the  pains  to  express  his  thoughts  in  choice,  elegant 
language,  which  frequently  reaches  the  highest  standard  of  polished 
diction.  In  truth,  some  of  his  more  labored  sermons  show  him  as 
holding  high  revel,  as  it  were,  with  eloquent  expressions  and  glowing 
imagery.  He  has  also  a  dramatic  manner.  Here  his  complete  self- 
possession  serves  him  very  effectively,  for  in  these  bolder  efforts  of 
the  orator,  requiring  full  command  of  language  and  composure  in 
delivery  and  gesticulation,  he  exhibits  a  perfect  discipline  as  well  of 
his  feelings  as  actions.     His  voice  is  clear  and  strong. 

Dr.  Montgomery  is  one  of  tlie  most  devoted  and  useful  rectors  la- 
boring in  New  York.  Not  onl_y  does  he  sti-uggle  with  unwearying 
zeal  in  his  own  parisli,  but  he  is  invariably  ready  to  contribute  his 
strength  in  fields  less  promising.  He  is  a  soldier  of  the  Lord,  always 
bold,  vigilant,  and  defiant.  He  is  a  reaper  in  the  Christian  harvest, 
always  cheerful,  untiring,  and  confident 

380 


HEY.  DAVID  MOORE,  JR.,  D.  D., 

PASTOll    OF    THE     WA.Jt^H:IjVGTOTV     A.VE1VXJE     BA.I»- 
TIST    CHXJliOH,    brook: LYN. 


'P]V.  DR.  DAYID  MOORE,  Je.,  was  born  in  the  county 
of  Westmoreland,  in  the  north  of  England,  March  28th, 
1822.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1834,  when 
twelve  years  of  age,  and  has  passed  most  of  his  life  in 
Vv^estern  New  York.  His  early  education  was  acquired  at  the 
different  academies,  and  his  theological  course  was  privately 
pursued,  under  the  dii-ection  of  Rev.  Mr.  McOall,  of  the  Scotch  Pres- 
byterian Church  at  Lewiston ;  Rev.  Dr.  Bull,  also  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  and  Professor  Goodall.  His  studies  were  very  thorough, 
his  associations  with  his  instructors  being  of  a  particularl}^  agreeable 
and  endearing  character.  He  was  ordained  in  June,  1852,  and  settled 
over  the  Gaines  and  Mui'ray  Baptist  Church  in  Orleans  county,  New 
York,  where  he  remained  during  a  period  of  twelve  3'ears.  He  had 
been  converted  in  this  church  in  1843,  became  a  member  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  preached  for  one  year  before  being  regularly  called  to 
the  pastorship.  In  1855  he  went  to  Leroy,  in  Genesee  county,  re- 
maining until  1860,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Washington  street 
Baptist  Clmrch,  Buffiilo.  Having  been  invited  to  assume  pastoral 
relations  with  the  Washington  avenue  Baptist  Church,  Brook- 
Ij-n,  he  commenced  his  labors  in  March,  1864.  The  Washing- 
ton avenue  congregation  worship  in  a  tasteful  and  spacious  edifice, 
on  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Gates  avenues.  On  the  occasion 
of  his  seventh  anniversary  sei-mon  Dr.  Moore  stated  that  during  that 
period  610  members  have  been  added  to  the  church — 241  by  bap- 
tism, 22  by  experience,  and  348  by  letter — more  than  trebling  the 
membership,  raising  it  from  191  to  620.  There  have  been  raised  for 
improvements  and  cuiTcnt  expenses  $100,000  ;  for  missions,  church 
extension  and  higher  education,  $90,000.  He  has  published  various 
occasional  sermons.  3gl 


REV.     DAVID     MOORE,     JR.,     D.  D. 

Dr.  Moore  is  a  tall,  well-proportioned,  fine-looking  man,  with  dark 
hair  and  evenlj-trimmed  whiskers  round  his  face.  His  head  is  of 
good  size,  the  features  are  regularly  molded,  and  his  expression  is 
of  the  most  amiable  and  winning  character.  The  ejes  are  soft,  while 
clear  and  quick,  and  in  conversation  an  attractive  smile  lingers  about 
the  mouth.  He  is  very  approachable,  cordial  in  his  manners,  and 
usually  exhibits  considerable  animation  with  congenial  persons.  He 
exercises  tlie  haj)piest  and  most  diffusive  influence  in  social  intercourse. 
His  pleasant,  beaming  countenance  commends  him  before  he  utters  a 
word,  and  then  his  polished,  gentle,  fascinating  manners  advance  him 
still  farther  to  the  heart;  and  finally,  his  interesting  conversation  and 
kindly  expressions  carry  him  to  the  goal  of  your  fixed  appreciation 
and  esteem.     And  this  is  true  of  him  with  all  classes  and  both  sexes. 

Dr.  Moore  is  an  effective  preacher,  and  decidedly  original  in  his 
mode  of  address,  which  is  more  conversational  than  declamatory. 
His  delivery  has  the  appearance  of  being  extemporaneous,  while 
actually  his  sermons  are  written  out  in  full.  His  practice  is  to  ^ive 
his  subject  a  thorough  examination  and  study,  rendering  it  entirely 
practicable  to  deliver  the  sermon  without  anything  more  than  notes; 
but,  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  imposes  upon  himself  the  additional 
labor  of  placing  it  in  permanent  form  on  paper.  In  consequence, 
when  he  comes  into  the  pulpit  he  speaks  with  slight  reference  to  his 
manuscript,  talking  in  a  free  conversational  way,  and  showing  the 
greatest  familiarity  with  the  subject.  His  discourses  are  wholly  argu- 
mentative and  practical.  He  seeks  to  make  plain  the  truth,  to  touch 
the  susceptibilities  of  the  unconverted,  and  nothing  more.  Inhere  is 
not  a  line  for  display,  not  a  thought  which  is  not  directed  to  the  one 
purpose  of  Christian  teaching.  His  voice  is  not  loud,  though  of 
sufficient  compass  for  distinct  hearing  in  a  large  building. 

Dr.  Moore  is  a  learned  expounder  of  the  Scriptures.  His  theolo- 
gical course,  while  private,  was  probably  more  complete  than  that  of 
the  seminary.  With  a  vigorous,  comprehensive  mind,  he  is  still  an 
unwearying  student  and  a  deep  logical  thinker.  Ever  digging  at  the 
roots  of  each  branching  and  bearing  tree  of  principle,  he  is  sure  to 
so  cultivate  and  fertilize  its  soil  that  it  will  hang  more  abundant  in 
its  fruits,  and  appear  more  wonderful  in  its  beauty. 

382 


^^^^^^^^^^  y^^^^^c^^c 


■^^t-^f^cL^ 


REY.  WILLIAM  F.  MORGA?^,  D.D., 

RECTOXl    OF    1ST.    THOMIAS'  EI»J©COI?^IL.    CIIXJRCH, 


EV.  DR.  WILLIAM  F.  MORGAN  was  born  in  Hartford, 
December  21st,  1818.  He  was  graduated  at  Union  College 
in  1837,  and  at  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Semi- 
nary, New  York,  in  1840.  He  was  made  deacon  by 
Bishop  Brownell,  at  Christ  Church,  Hartford,  in  1841,  and 
&~3  priest  by  the  same  bishop,  at  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  in 
1842.  After  graduation  he  passed  some  time  with  Rev.  Dr.  Berrian, 
of  Trinity  Church,  and  in  April,  1841,  became  Rector  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Cheshire,  Connecticut.  Three  months  later  he  became  as- 
sistant to  Rev.  Dr.  Harry  Croswell,  at  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven, 
where  he  remained  three  years.  In  the  Autumn  of  1844  he  assumed 
the  rectorship  of  Christ  Church,  Norwich,  and  there  remained  for 
fourteen  years.  During  this  period,  through  his  instrumentality,  a 
new  church  was  erected  and  paid  for,  costing  $60,000.  He  accepted 
a  call  to  his  present  parish  of  St.  Thomas,  New  York,  in  1857. 

St.  Thomas'  parish  was  founded  by  the  late  Rev.  Cornelius  R. 
Duffie,  at  one  time  of  the  firm  of  Todd,  Dufl&e  &  Todd,  New  York, 
salt  merchants,  but  who  had  been  admitted  to  holy  orders  in  the 
Episcopal  Church.     Worship  was  first  held  in  a  room  on  the  corner 
of  Broadway  and  Broome  street.     An  organization  took  place  on 
Christmas  Day,  1823,  and  the  first  communion  service  was  adminis 
tered  on  the  14th  of  the  following  March  to  nineteen  communicants, 
Mr.  Duffie  was  duly  called  January  14th,  1824.     The  original  offi 
cers  were  Isaac   Laurence,  senior  warden  ;   Thomas   N.  Houghton 
junior  warden ;  and  David  Hadden,  John  Duer,   William  B.  Lau 
rence,  Richard   Oakley,  James   J.  Lambert,  Charles  King,  Murray 
Hoffman,   and   William  B.  Astor,   vestrymen.      The   congregation 
erected    a    large    stone   edifice   on  the   corner   of  Broadway   and 
Houston    street,    which,    some     years    since,    was    destroyed    by 
fire,   but   immediately  rebuilt.     Mr.    Duffie  died  in  a  few    years, 

383 


EEV.      WILLIAM     F.      MORGAN,     D.  D. 

and  wns  succeeded  by  Eev.  Mr.  Upfbld,  now  Bisliop  of  la 
diana,  who  was  succeeded  in  two  or  three  years  by  Dr.  Hawkes,  who 
officiated  for  twelve  years,  and  did  much  to  build  up  the  parish. 
Kev.  Dr.  Whitehouse,  the  present  Bishop  of  Illinois,  was  the  next 
rector,  being  succeeded,  after  about  eight  years'  service,  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Neville,  who  officiated  during  four  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ee\-, 
Dr.  Morgan.  At  this  time  the  congi-egation  consists  of  about  two 
hundred  families  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  communicants,  and  the 
average  church  attendance  is  twelve  hundred  jDcrsons. 

St.  Ambrose's  Church,  Rev.  Frederick  Sill,  rector,  now  a  flourish- 
ing down-town  congregation,  was  formerly  a  mission,  sustained  at  an 
annual  cost  of  about  $3,000.  Other  missions  are  now  as  liberally 
sustained.  The  annual  ofi'erings  for  all  purposes  amount  to  a 
large  sum.  In  1871,  a  new  church  edifice,  of  a  very  imposing  and 
costly  description,  which  had  been  for  several  years  erecting  on  the 
corner  of  Fifth  avenue  and  Fifty-third  street,  some  two  miles  and  a 
half  from  the  old  location,  was  occupied  for  the  first  time.  This 
structure,  both  in  its  exterior  and  interior,  is  one  of  the  grandest  of 
the  many  magnificent  churches  of  New  York. 

On  St.  Thomas'  Day,  December  1st,  1872,  the  Free  Chapel  of  St. 
Thomas'  Church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Potter,  assisted  by  a 
number  of  the  clergy.  The  chapel  is  a  commodious  brick  building, 
on  East  Sixtieth  street,  between  Second  and  Third  avenues,  which 
was  erected  entirely  through  the  liberality  of  members  of  St, 
Thomas'  congregation. 

Dr.  Morgan  received  his  degree  of  D,  D.  from  Columbia  College. 
in  1857.  His  publications  consist  of  various  sermons.  He  was  ab 
sent  in  Europe  from  June  to  October,  1864,  having  gone  abroad  b} 
Episcopal  appointment  to  preach  the  consecration  sermon  at  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  the  new  American  Episcopal  Church  in 
Paris.  Eight  Eev.  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  of  Ohio,  was  also  sent  out  to 
perform  the  act  of  consecration,  which  took  place  September  12th, 
1864.  The  money  to  build  the  church  was  raised  chiefly  in  the 
United  States,  by  the  unremitting  exertions  of  William  0.  Lamson. 
the  rector,  Eev.  Dr.  Francis  Vinton,  Eev.  Dr.  Morgan,  Benjamin  E. 
Winthrop,  Esq.,  Hon,  Hamilton  Fish,  and  others. 

We  take  the  following  extract  from  the  consecration  sermon 
preached  at  the  Church  in  Paris,  and  published  in  that  city  by  a 
resolution  of  the  Vestry  : 

384 


REV.     WILLIAM     F.      MORGAN,     D.  D. 

"Of  course  the  American  Episcopal  Church  had  no  thought  of  planting  or 
propagating  a  new  faith  in  France  by  rearing  this  hall  ;  for  the  Gallic  branch  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  has  kept  the  primitive  I'aitli, 
althotigh,  as  now,  so  through  long  ages  past,  under  a  mass  of  unauthorized  addi- 
tions, which  has  made  her,  with  the  entire  Roman  Communion,  chargeable  with 
the  sin  of  schism  in  the  Chi\rch  of  God.  And  I  may  add  that  this  sin  has  been 
fearfully  aggravated  by  the  dogma  which  has,  in  efiftct,  exalted  the  Virgin  Mother 
above  the  Only  Begotten  and  Eternal  Son  in  the  order  of  worship,  and  converted 
the  priucijjal  churches  in  this  city  and  land  into  temples  of  unscriptural  worship. 
And  yet,  let  us  not  withhold  the  undeniable  truth  that,  like  pearls  among  pebbles, 
so  the  principal  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion  have  been  held  amidst  the  cor- 
rui)tions  of  the  Galilean  Church  ;  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  ;  the 
true  Deity  of  the  Redeemer  and  of  the  Holy  Sj^irit ;  the  union  of  the  divine  and 
human  natures  in  the  person  of  Christ  ;  his  obedience  and  sufferings  for  the  re- 
demption of  men  ;  salvation  only  by  his  atonement,  righteousness  and  grace  ;  the 
renewing  and  purifying  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  general  obligations  of 
holiness  ;  a  separate  state  ;  the  universal  judgment,  and  the  eternal  retribution  of 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked — all  these  precious  and  essential  verities  still  hold 
place  in  the  doctrinal  formulas  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Even  Luther 
allowed  that  we  might  discover  faith  at  the  bottom,  and  that  '  under  the  Papacy 
there  was  much  Christian  good.'  It  was  from  these  choice  flowers  of  doctrine  that 
those  saintly  Port  Royalists,  Arnauld,  Nicole,  Pascal,  and  others,  caught  an  aroma, 
and  inspiration  of  dt^votion  and  spiritual  elevation,  which  has  spread  through  the 
world.  It  was  ujion  these  projecting  bulwarks  of  the  Christian  faith  that  those 
illustrious  ju-eacLers  stood,  whose  names  are  everywhere  cherished,  and  whose 
mighty  voices  shook  this  empire,  and  made  licentious  courts  and  kings  ti-emble,  as 
Felix  trembled  before  the  great  Apostle. 

"Nor,  again,  have  we  felt  compelled  to  rear  this  hall  because  the  Protestant 
faith  has  been  unknown  or  inoj^erative  here.  France  has  been  the  theatre,  the  great 
battle-field  in  the  war  against  Papal  error.  From  the  days  of  Claude,  Archbishop 
of  Turin,  and  from  the  days  of  Vaudois,  who  kept  the  faith  of  the  Gospel  so  purely 
in  the  Swiss  valleys,  even  in  the  eighth  century,  the  struggle  for  primitive  truth, 
extending  across  the  borders  of  this  empire,  has  been  going  on  until  there  is 
scarcely  a  section  of  it  which  has  not  been  drenched  with  the  blood  of  Protestant 
martyrs.  The  most  notable  wars  of  France  have  been  religious  wars,  carried  on 
between  a  tyrannical  court  hierarchy  and  the  defenders  of  a  pure  go;-pel.  while  the 
blots — the  historic  blots — upon  the  renown  of  this  empire,  most  damnable  and  in- 
effaceable, are  the  persecutions  and  massacres  which  in  times  past  have  m.ade  it  a 
Golgotha,  and  turned  its  imperial  capital  into  a  human  slaughter-house.  The 
stories  of  the  Waldensian  persecutions  and  of  the  murderous  intolerance  which 
pursued  the  Huguenots  are  among  the  most  familiar  in  the  Christian  homes  of 
America  ;  nor  is  it  unknown  there  that  within  the  last  half-century  at  one  period 
there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty  Protestant  ministers  proclaiming  the  Gospel  in 
France,  while  at  the  present  time  there  are  French  evangelical  divines  whose  labors 
and  living  words  are  hold  in  admiration  and  honor.  Alas !  that  the  results  of  their 
labors,  so  far  as  visible  at  this  day,  should  be  only  as  the  glimmering  of  a  dying 
flame,  sending  but  a  dim  ray  athwart  the  almost  imiversal  gloom." 

Dr.  Morgan  is  of  a  tall,  large  person,  and  of  strikingly  erect 
carriage.      His  shoulders    are    broad,    and   all  his   proportions  are 

385 


REV.     WILLIAM     F.     MORGAN,     D.  D. 

ample  and  full,  while  there  is  nothing  disproportionate  or  wanting 
in  gracefulness.  He  moves  with  a  firm,  stately  tread,  exhibiting  a 
great  deal  of  courtliness  and  dignity.  At  the  same  time  there  is 
an  ever-present  amiability  in  his  countenance,  and  a  natural  gen- 
tleness of  speech,  which  quickly  remove  any  restraint  which  his  for- 
mality of  manners  may  occasion.  Chesterfield  himself  was  not  a 
better  model  of  high-toned  breeding  than  the  Doctor.  In  private 
life  and  in  all  his  public  acts  he  is  a  pattern  of  propriety  in  this 
respect.  He  is  as  scrupulous  in  little  matters  as  in  great  things, 
and  in  all  his  proceedings  presents  a  brilliant  example  of  the  thor- 
ough-bred American  gentleman.  Never  parting  with  the  lofty  dig- 
nity which  becomes  him  so  well,  the  humblest  and  the  proudest 
alike  find  him  equally  courteous  and  kind.  Failing  in  no  particu- 
lar to  sustain  his  own  individual  claim  to  respect  and  consideration, 
he  is  quite  as  pun(;tilious  in  forgetting  nothing  which  is  due  from 
himself  to  others.  Hence  intercourse  with  him,  on  the  part  of  all 
classes,  has  all  that  charm  which  springs  from  true  polish  of  manners 
and  character.  He  is  a  man  of  large  and  tender  sympathies,  of 
strict  conscientiousness  of  life,  and  of  a  deep  rather  than  ostentatious 
piety.  His  mind  is  usually  elastic  and  buoyant,  and  his  heart  has 
that  valuable  phase  of  cheerfulness  which,  while  it  is  never  particu- 
larly exuberant,  can  never  be  altogether  extinguished.  He  is  genial, 
fond  of  choice  companionship,  and  not  less  the  ornament  than  the 
delighted  participant  in  cultivated  gatherings. 

Dr.  Morgan  has  the  most  acceptable  qualifications  as  a  public 
speaker.  His  pi'esence  is  commanding  and  impressive ;  he  is  elo- 
quent, and  his  voice  is  clear  and  mellow.  Coming  from  his  lips,  and 
said  in  his  peculiar  way,  even  simple  expressions  and  common-place 
thoughts  have  a  strange  and  new  attraction,  while  his  more  studied 
passages  permeate  and  thrill  with  wonderful  power.  He  has  not  a 
great  deal  of  gesture,  and  his  whole  manner  of  delivery  is  composed 
and  dignified ;  but  his  words  are  infused  with  those  twin  elements 
of  oratorical  effectiveness — the  heart's  sincerity  and  the  mind's  utmost 
grasp  of  thought.  Chasteness,  poetry,  and  beauty  of  sentiment  anrl 
expression  are  all  called  into  service  ;  but  it  is  the  heart,  speaking 
from  its  truth  and  tenderness,  and  the  master  intellect,  beating  down 
error  and  doubt,  that  in  this  instance  give  the  greatest  influence  to 
the  speaker.  Eloquence  is  not  only  decked  in  its  charms,  but  armed  ' 
with  its  omnipotence. 

380 


-y'iyBsmuscnsmRK"'  jt/ry 


C^^y^i^.^r-u^i^U'^^^ 


REV.  CHARLES  WILLIAM  MORRILL, 

RECTOR,    OF    isT,   ATL.B^]V»©    EPISCOPA.L    CHURCH, 

N^iTV    YOKKl. 


EV.  CHAELES  WILLIAM  MOERILL  was  born  at 
Saco,  Maine,  Julj  23cl,  1831,  and  baptized  in  Trinity 
Episcopal  Church,  on  the  18th  of  the  following  September. 
Hi«  great  grand-father  was  the  Rev.  Moses  Morrill,  a  grad- 
uate of  Harvard  College,  in  1737,  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen 
years,  who  was  ordained  September  29th,  1742,  minister  in  the 
town  of  Biddeford,  Maine,  (then  including  the  present  Saco).  Mr. 
Morrill  was  intimate  with  Sir  William  Pepperell,  the  chief  landholder 
and  a  conspicuous  patriot  during  the  revolutionary  struggle.  In 
Folsom's  "  History  of  Saco  and  Biddeford  "  we  find  the  following 
statement :  "  This  gentleman  (Rev.  Moses  Morrill),  in  the  language  of 
one  intimately  acquainted  with  him  at  that  period,  '  was  a  superior 
man  ;  of  a  deportment  noble  and  dignified,  seldom  equaled,  and  never 
surpassed  in  this  quarter.  To  this  was  added  a  capacity  fully  corre- 
sponding; intelligent,  easy  of  access,  and  communicative,  he  ranked 
high  as  a  scholar,  as  a  divine,  and  as  a  statesman.  In  such  a  melan- 
choly season  as  our  struggle  for  independence,  considering  the  general 
weakness  or  ignorance  of  the  people,  the  value  of  such  a  man  was 
incalculable.  So  deep  an  interest  did  he  take  in  that  all-important 
concern,  as  a  statesman,  he  spared  no  pains  to  guide  every  one  into  the 
right  way,  nor  did  he  fail  in  this.  To  his  long  standing  there,  and 
the  confidence  of  the  people  in  him  was  it  owing  in  a  great  measure, 
that  the  principles  of  independence  were  easily  disclosed  and  gener- 
ally embraced.'  " 

The  early  studies  of  the  Rev.  Charles  William  Morrill  were 
principally  at  the  Thornton  Academy  in  his  native  town.  By  reason 
of  some  difficulty  with  his  eyes,  he  gave  up,  until  he  was  twenty 
years  of  age,  all  idea  of  studying  for  any  profession.  As  he  recovered 
about  that  period,  he  determined  to  prepare  for  the  priesthood.  After 
careful  study,  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  M.  P.  Stickney,  of 

387 


REV.      CHARLES     WILLIAM     MORRILL. 

B(^,ston,  he  entered  tlie  General  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1859.  He  was  made 
deacon  at  Trinity  church,  New  York,  by  Bishop  Potter,  in  Jidy  of 
that  year,  and  preached  his  first  sermon  on  the  same  day  at  Trinity 
church.  He  then  took  charge  of  Christ  Church  at  Hudson,  New 
York,  for  a  peiiod  of  nine  months,  the  rector  being  most  of  the  time 
absent  Later  he  officiated  temporarily  at  different  places  on  the 
Hudson  river;  and  at  length  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Cold  Spring,  where  he  was  made  priest  by  Bisliop  Potter,  in 
October,  1861.  In  February,  1865,  he  accepted  the  rectorship  of  St. 
Alban's  parish,  New  York,  and  entered  upon  his  labors  in  March  of 
the  same  year. 

St.  Alban's  parish  was  organized  as  a  free  church  in  1862,  by  a 
few  3^oun;i-  men  coimected  with  Calvary  parish,  who  were  engaged  in 
a  missionary  work  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  city.  They  soon  leased 
a  small  wooden  church,  on  East  Fiftieth  street,  where  seivices  were 
iield  for  the  space  of  about  three  years.  The  Eev.  W.  A.  W,  May  bin 
was  the  accomplished  rector  for  the  greater  part  of  this  period,  and, 
after  his  resignation,  the  sheep,  being  without  a  shepherd  for  some 
months,  naturally  scattered.  Upon  coming  into  the  rectorship. 
Father  Morrill  applied  himself  with  great  energy  in  the  revival  of  the 
parish  ;  sufficient  money  was  raised  to  purchase  three  lots  on  Forty- 
seventh  street,  between  Lexington  and  Fourth  avenues,  where  a  brick 
chapel  was  erected,  the  whole  expenditure  amounting  to  about 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  nearly  all  of  which  has  been  paid.  The 
chapel  was  duly  opened  in  November,  1865,  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1870  was  enlarged,  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  increased  attend- 
ance, at  a  cost  of  aboat  ten  thousand  dollars.  From  1865  up  to  the 
present  time  some  ninety  thousand  dollars  have  been  expended  for 
all  purposes.  The  communicants  have  increased  from  forty  to  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  ;  and  the  average  attendance  on  Sunday  is 
about  lour  hundred.  There  are  two  daily  services  every  week  day, 
five  on  Sunday,  and  several  services  on  all  holy  days ;  the  seats  being 
always  free. 

St.  Alban's  Church,  under  its  present  rector,  was  the  first  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  to  exhibit  a  complete  and  harmonious  Catholic 
ceremonial,  with  all  suitable  adjuncts  and  ornaments  of  divine  ser- 
vice, and  naturally  drew  to  it  the  attention  not  only  of  the  members 
of  the  Episcopal  communion,  but  also  of  the  public  at  large.  Its 
fame  has  extended  over  the  United  States,  and  it  is  well  known  in 

o8S 


REV.      CHARLES     WILLIAM     MORRILL, 

the  mother  countr}-.  The  discussion  of  the  high  and  low  church 
question,  with  which  it  is  well  known  the  English  church  has  been 
for  years  much  torn,  had  occupied  all  branches  of  the  Episcopal 
church  and  the  denominational  journals  of  this  country ;  l)ut  no 
l^revious  effort  had  been  made  to  practice  the  disputed  ritual  itself. 
At  the  sa  1  e  time  St.  Alban's  is  just  as  strictly  an  Episcopal  chuj-ch 
as  "Trinity"  or  "St.  George's,"  and  is  just  as  much  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Bishop  of  New  York,  as  they.  Its  rector  claims  that 
he  has  only  moved  a  little  faster  than  most  of  his  brethren  in  pro- 
moting the  "  beautj^  of  holiness,"  but  without  consciously  violating 
any  law  of  Anglo-Catholicism.  While  to  the  Protestants  these 
ceremonials  seem  a  modified  form  of  the  worship  in  the  Eoman 
Catholic  churches,  nevertheless  they  are  claimed  to  be  a  revival  of 
forms  which  were  practiced  in  the  Eeformed  Church  of  England  at 
its  earliest  period.  It  is  only  simple  justice  to  Father  Morrill  to  sav 
that  he  disavows,  with  emphasis,  any  sympathy  with  Pojoery  as  sucli. 
He  professes  to  accept  the  Boolv  of  Common  Prayer,  and  to  stand  on 
the  same  denominational  platform  with  the  most  eminent  of  the  clergy 
of  his  communion  at  home  and  abroad. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  very  many  Episcopal  parishes  have  made 
great  strides  in  ritualism  since  the  opening  of  St.  Alban's ;  and,  gener- 
ally, the  movement  is  gaining  strength.  The  teachings  of  Dr.  Pusey 
and  others  have  had  their  weight  upon  both  the  Episcopal  clergy  and 
laity  of  the  United  States.  The  battle  which  is  raging  in  England  is 
going  on  here,  but  in  a  much  more  quiet  and  non-belligerent  manner. 

The  services  as  seen  at  St.  Alban's  are  worthy  of  some  descrip- 
tion. A  large  cross  rises  above  the  altar,  and  on  either  side  arc; 
groups  of  candles,  making  about  fifty  in  all.  The  vestments  of  the 
celebrant  are  of  satin,  lace,  and  other  stuffs,  and  of  rich  colors,  and 
conspicuously  embroidered  with  the  figure  of  the  cross.  The  boy 
choristers  wear  cassocks  of  blue  or  black,  with  cotta ;  the  crucifer's 
cassock  being  of  purple ;  the  acolytes  generally  wear  scarlet ;  their 
vestment  being  the  rochet  The  services  commence  with  the  entrance 
from  the  front  of  the  church  of  a  procession  of  the  clergy  and 
choristers,  bearing  a  large  cross  and  symbolic  banners.  Most  of  the 
ceremonials  are  conducted  while  the  celebrant  has  his  face  to  the 
altar,  and  the  cross  is  never  passed  without  bowing  the  head.  The 
clergy  frequently  cross  themselves,  as  do  the  congregation,  who  also 
bow  before  the  cross  on  entering.   Before  proceeding  with  his  sermon 

389 


REV.      CHARLES     WILLIAM     MORRILL. 

tlie  rector  crosses  himself.  Incense  is  used,  and  everj  part  of  the 
ceremonials  is  made  thoroughly  impressive. 

Fatlier  Morrill  is  under  the  medium  height,  and  of  round,  full 
person,  with  a  large  round  head.  His  face  has  a  placid,  amiable  ex- 
pression ;  and,  while  extremely  serious  in  its  repose,  is  light  and  glow- 
ing in  the  animation  of  conversation  and  public  speaking.  His  eyes 
are  small,  but  have  a  very  observing  gaze,  and  his  broad  forehead 
shows  that  there  is  more  tlian  ordinary  brain  power  within.  His 
manners  are  particularly  courteous  and  genial,  and  his  conversation  is 
unrestrained,  vivacious,  and  fascinating.  He  is  a  studious  person, 
looking  deeply  and  thorouglily  into  all  subjects;  and  probably  there  is 
not  in  the  Episcopal  pulpit  a  man  of  his  years  who  has  moi-e  of  the 
substantial  qualifications  of  a  scholar  than  himself  He  is  a  thinker 
rather  than  a  dreamer.  His  conversation,  when  it  takes  the  line  of 
argument,  is  extremely  logical  and  full  of  scholarly  and  practical 
illustrations,  and  at  all  times  is  remarkable  for  attractiveness.  His 
sennons  are  thoughtful  productions,  written  in  plain,  forcible,  and 
eloquent  lang-uage,  and  perfect  and  exhaustive  in  argument,  from  his 
own  standpoint  of  belief.  His  attitude  in  the  pulpit  is  composed  and 
devout,  and  his  voice  is  always  soft  and  sympathetic. 

Father  Morrill  will  continue  to  draw  to  himself,  in  his  position  of 
rector  of  St.  Alban's  church,  a  great  deal  of  attention  from  his  own 
and  all  other  religious  denominations,  and  he  will  be  found  fully  able 
to  maintain  his  ground.  He  is  evidently  entirely  conscientious  in  his 
efforts,  and  he  has  both  the  intellect  and  the  energy  necessary  in  a 
man  who  is  seeking  to  establish  radical  innovations  in  established  re- 
ligious forms.  His  scholarship,  which,  with  a  mind  of  so  much  vigor, 
must  become  greatly  enlarged,  and  his  tact  and  eloquence,  will  do 
much  in  carrying  forward  his  work.  The  seed  which  he  has  planted, 
and  is  so  assiduously  nourishing,  will  no  doubt  yield  an  abundant 
harvest.  The  "signs  of  the  times"  all  point  to  this  result,  while 
no  one  can  witness  the  patient  faith  and  works  of  Father  Morrill 
without  regarding  him  with  the  highest  respect 

390 


REV.  WILLIAM  A.  MUHLEJ(BERG,  D.  D., 

PASTOR  AiVr*   ©XJDE»EIiI]VTEiVI>EIVT   OF  ST.  I^UB:E'© 
HOSMTA^I^,  TVE\\^   YORK:. 


)EY.  DR.  WILLIAM  A.  MUHLENBERG  is  the  eldest 
gi-eat  gi-andson  of  Henrv  Melchoir  MuMenberg,  founder 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  and  was  born  in  the 
.  city  of  Philadelphia,  September  16th,  1796.  He  was  grad- 
uated at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1814.  Having  pre- 
tty pared  himself  for  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  was 
ordained  deacon  in  1817,  and  three  years  afterward  priest,  by  Bishop 
"White.  On  his  first  ordination  he  became  assistant  to  the  rector 
(Bishop  White)  of  the  united  churches  of  Christ  Church,  St.  Peter's, 
and  St.  James',  Philadeljohia,  in  which  position  he  remained  three 
years.  In  1821  he  became  rector  of  St.  James'  Church,  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania.  Here  he  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  establishing  the 
first  public  school  in  the  State  out  of  Philadelphia.  In  1828  he 
founded  a  Christian  High  School  at  Flushing,  Long  Island,  which 
afterward  became  St.  Paul's  College.  Of  these  institutions  he  was 
principal  and  rector  until  1846,  some  eighteen  years.  In  1846  he  be- 
came rector  of  the  free  church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  in  the  City 
of  New  York,  erected  by  his  sister,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  C.  Rogers,  as  a 
memorial  of  her  deceased  husband. 

On  St.  Luke's  Day,  1846,  Dr.  Muhlenberg  called  the  attention 
of  his  congregation  to  the  want  of  a  Church  Hospital,  in  the  City 
of  New  York.  Half  of  the  morning  collection,  usually  appropriated 
to  the  suppoit  of  the  church,  was  laid  aside  for  this  purpose.  The 
smallness  of  the  sum,  only  thirty  dollars,  provoked  a  smile  from  the 
clergyman  who  preached  in  the  afternoon,  who  asked  of  Dr.  Muhlen- 
berg :  "  When  do  you  expect  your  hospital  to  be  built?"  "  Never," 
he  replied,  "  if  I  never  make  a  beginning."  From  this  veritable 
"  mite,"  however,  at  length  came  a  fund  of  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars ;  and  then  a  second  hundred  thousand,  with  which  means 
an  edifice  for  the  hospital  was  built     The  corner-stone  was  laid  by 

391 


REV.     WILLIAM     A.      MUHLENBEEG,     D.  D. 

Bishop  Waiiiwi-ight,  in  May,  1854 ;  the  chapel  was  opened  for  divine 
service  on  Ascension  Day,  1857,  and  the  hospital  was  opened  for  the 
reception  of  patients,  with  religious  services,  and  a  sermon  by  the 
Kev.  Samuel  Cooke,  D.  D.,  on  Ascension  Day,  May  13th,  1858. 
The  site  is  on  Fifty-fourth  street,  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues, 
It  is  so  constructed  that  the  centre  building  is  a  chapel,  and  opening 
from  it  in  the  side  wings  are  hospital  wards,  by  which  arrangement 
the  religious  services  can  be  heard  by  all  the  patients  in  their  beds. 
The  hosj^ital  is  sustained  by  the  benevolence  of  the  Episcopal  de- 
nomination, but  persons  of  all  sects  are  entitled  to  its  benefits. 
During  1871  about  one  thousand  patients  were  admitted.  The  ex- 
penditures for  the  year  were  $59,091  75.  There  are  forty-five  charity 
beds  made  permanent  by  endowment,  and  twenty  provided  for  by 
annual  subscription.  A  children's  ward  is  one  of  the  features. 
Through  the  benevolence  of  a  number  of  wealthy  citizens  a  large 
endowment  fund  has  been  subscribed. 

In  1857,  Dr,  Muhlenberg  became  the  first  pastor  and  superin- 
tendent of  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  a  position  which  he  still  holds.  He 
remained  the  nominal  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion 
until  fli  comparatively  recent  date.  In  1843  he  organized  the  first 
Protestant  Sisterhood  in  this  country,  who  are  in  charge  of  St.  Luke's 
Hospital,  and  a  day-school  connected  with  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Communion.  He  has  now  entered  upon  what  he  considers  the  con- 
cluding work  of  his  life  in  founding  a  Christian  Industrial  Commun- 
ity, known  as  St,  Johnsland.  located  on  the  north  shore  of  Long 
Island,  in  Suffolk  County,  about  forty-five  miles  from  the  city  of 
New  York.  It  consists  of  a  property  of  nearly  five  hundred  acres, 
with  the  necessary  buildings  for  the  purposes  contemplated  in  the 
plan.  The  objects  are  to  provide  cheap  and  comfortable  homes, 
together  with  the  means  of  social  and  moral  improvement,  for  de- 
serving families  from  among  the  working  classes ;  to  maintain  a 
home  for  aged  men  in  destitute  circumstances  ;  to  care  for  friendless 
children  and  youth,  especially  cripples ;  to  assist  indigent  boys  and 
young  men  who  desire  literary  education,  with  a  view  to  the  Gospel 
ministry.  Through  the  untiring  efforts  of  Dr,  Muhlenberg,  and  the 
liberal  Christian  benevolence  of  many  of  his  friends,  the  institution 
has  been  placed  on  a  permanent  basis  of  constantly  increasing  use- 
fulness. A  home  for  crippled  and  destitute  children,  costing  over 
seven  thousand  dollars  ;  an  old  man's  home,  costing  thirty  thousand 
dollars ;  and  a  church  edifice,  costing  eleven  thousand  dollars — all 

3!)2 


REV.     WILLIAM     A.      MUHLENBERG,     D.  D. 

of  these  sums  being  the  gifts  of  three  individuals — ^have  been  erected. 
A  stereotype  foundry  is  a  source  of  revenue,  doing  work  for  some 
of  the  best  publishing  houses  of  New  York.  Up  to  May,  1871  the 
expenditures  and  receipts  amounted  to  about  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  thousand  dollars. 

Dr.  Muhlenberg  is  a  man  of  fine  poetic  ability,  and  has  written 
various  hymns  and  other  pieces,  which  have  attracted  a  wide  atten- 
tion. A  National  Thanksgiving  Hymn  was  a  patriotic  offering  dur- 
ing the  late  war,  which  was  generally  sung  in  the  New  York 
churches.  As  early  as  1824  he  composed  a  hymn  which  is  in  every 
hymn-book,  and  is  not  excelled  in  religious  fervor  by  any  in  the 
English  language.     The  first  verse  is  as  follows  : 

"  I  -svouIlI  uot  live  alw:iy:  I  ask  not  to  stay 
V/here  storm  after  storm  rises  dark  o'er  the  way; 
The  few  lurid  mornings  that  dawn  on  lis  here, 
Are  enough  for  life's  woes,  full  enough  for  its  cheer." 

Dr.  Muhlenberg  is  about  the  average  height,  well-proportioned, 
and  unusually  active  for  his  years.  He  has  a  large,  roun  1  head,  with 
regular,  intellectual  features,  and  a  profusion  of  silver-gray  hair. 
His  presence  is  dignified  and  venerable,  and  his  manners  are  in- 
variably courteous  and  kindly.  He  is  neither  a  man  of  self- 
reliance  nor  assurance,  but  of  such  modesty  of  manners  as  are 
found  in  few  public  men.  And  yet  look  at  the  works  of  his  life ! 
Congregations  built  up,  institutions  of  learning  and  charity  founded, 
sisterhoods  of  benevolent  women  and  industrial  religious  communi- 
ties oi-ganized,  are  the  grand  and  successful  practical  efforts  to  which 
he  has  devoted  himself.  Who  has  done  moi-e — nay,  who  has  done 
so  much?  Still,  all  this  has  been  accomplished  so  calmly,  and 
almost  silently,  that  the  world  generally  hardly  knew  of  it.  Some' 
men  would  have  made  a  noise,  thrown  into  the  schemes  an  energy 
which  would  have  perhaps  drawn  half  its  power  from  the  know- 
ledge that  the  public  eye  was  upon  the  movement,  and  achieved 
success  by  pure  force  of  character.  Dr.  Muhlenberg  has  achieved 
his  by  the  soft  graces  of  character,  by  pre-eminent  virtues,  and  a 
pious  life.  Men  and  women  have  loved  him,  and  hence  they  have 
aided  him  in  his  educational,  religious,  and  benevolent  entei-prises. 
His  reliance  has  been  in  the  power  of  truth  and  the  providence 
of  God,  and  his  own  part  has  been  more  to  guide  the  expression 
of  individual  benevolence  than  to  compel  any  man  or  woman  to 
do  their  duty.     As  a  successful  philanthropist,  he  is  peculiar  in  the 

3!J3 


REV.     WILLIAM     A.     MUHLENBERG,     D.  D. 

means  whicli  he  has  employed.  They  are  means  consonant  with 
his  own  gentle,  unassuming  nature,  but  are  not  those  on  which  men 
most  depend  for  success. 

Dr.  Muhlenberg  is  a  fervent  and  interesting  speaker.  His  de- 
livery has  little  that  is  excitable  about  it,  but  there  is  a  warmth  of 
sincerity  and  a  reverential  regard  for  holy  truths  which  impart  much 
impressiveness  to  it.  He  appears  the  truly  pious  man,  caring  not 
to  give  prominence  to  the  individual,  but  prayerfully  solicitous  for 
the  eternal  welfare  of  his  race. 

His  services  at  St.  Luke's  Hospital  are  particularly  impressive. 
They  are  in  the  hearing  and  almost  the  presence  of  the  sick  and 
the  dying,  who'  are  in  the  wards  of  the  hospital.  He  has  been  with 
them  at  their  bedsides,  he  knows  their  physical  extremity  and  their 
moral  wants,  and  he  speaks  to  meet  the  case  of  many  such  a  one. 
He  is  the  pastor  of  these  sick  people.  Going  from  ward  to  ward, 
from  bed  to  bed,  with  words  of  kind  inquiry,  of  hopefulness,  and 
of  religious  counsel,  they  soon  learn  to  appreciate  a  nature  so  benev- 
olent, self-sacrificing,  and  noble.  His  venerable  presence  is  striking, 
and  his  words  and  manners  are  the  most  gentle  imaginable.  All 
these  circumstances  make  him  no  ordinary  character,  as  far  as  the 
patients  are  concerned ;  and  when  he  stands  in  the  sacred  desk, 
within  their  hearing,  and  puts  forth  the  appeal  for  them  and  to 
them,  he  speaks  with  a  visible  emotion  himself,  and  it  is  felt  by  his 
sick  hearers  as  well,  and,  indeed,  in  a  less  degree,  by  all  present.  It 
is  in  all  respects  a  service  which  those  who  attend  are  not  likely  to 
forget,  and  probably  none  in  the  city  are  more  beneficial  in  their 
results. 

Dr.  Muhlenberg  is  certainly  a  happy  illustration  of  the  Christian 
and  benevolent  character.  His  whole  life  has  been  one  of  practical 
service  in  behalf  of  his  fellow-men.  He  neither  claims  the  relaxation 
from  effort  due  to  a  man  of  his  venerable  years,  nor  is  he  satisfied 
without  giving  these  efforts  the  widest  possible  range.  The  good 
which  he  has  done  and  the  virtues  of  his  life  justly  entitle  him  to 
the  highest  place  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellow-men.  Unobstrusive, 
making  no  parade  whatever  of  his  works,  he  is  one  of  the  most 
eaxnest.and  efficient  philanthropists  of  his  time. 

394 


REV.  JAMES  0.  MUKPtAY,  D.  D., 

ASSOCI^TIB     I>A.«TOR     OF    THE     BRTCIt     T»IIESBY- 
TEriIA.1V    CHURCH,    IVEW    YORKl. 


EV.  DR  JAMES  O.  MURRAY  was  born  at  Camden, 
M)  South  Carolina,  November  27th,  1S27.  His  father  was  a 
j^  merchant  at  that  place,     xifter  pursuing  his  earlier  studies 

f.^~^j^^^^^  at  Springfield,  Oliio,  he  entered  Brown  University,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1850.  He  was  graduated  in  theology  at  An- 
t>^  dover  in  1854,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  during  the  same 
year  over  ihe  First  Congregational  Church  at  South  Danvers,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  remained  in  this  pastorship  for  six  years  and  a  half. 
He  then  went  to  Cambridgeport,  Massachusetts,  to  the  Prospect  Street 
Congregational  Church,  where  he  officiated  four  years.  Having  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  the  associate  pastorship  with  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner 
Spring,  at  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  Avenue,  corner  of 
Thirty-seventh  street,  New  York,  he  commenced  his  duties  in  Febru- 
ary, 1865.  His  immediate  predecessor  in  the  associate  pastorship 
was  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  G.  T.  Shedd. 

The  Brick  Church  formerly  occupied  the  triangular  piece  of  land 
bounded  by  Beekman  and  Nassau  streets  and  Park  Row,  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Bailj/  Times,  and  other  large  buildings,  and  is  one  of  the 
oldest  organizations  of  the  country.  The  lot  was  obtained  from  the 
congregation  by  the  "Wall  street  Presbyterian  Church,  the  first  organ- 
ization of  the  sect  in  New  York,  and  a  church  erected  upon  it,  which 
was  dedicated  in  January,  1768.  During  the  revolutionary  war  the 
building  was  used  by  the  British  as  a  prisf)n  and  hospital  for  prison- 
ers of  wars,  and  was  the  scene  of  great  sufterings  on  the  part  of  the 
patriots.  The  church  was  re-opened  in  June,  1784.  The  edifice  was 
known  as  the  "Brick  Meeting,"  and  when  the  congregation  removed 
to  their  pi-esent  eligible  location  they  reproduced  the  veritable  build- 
ing in  material  and  external  form,  but  in  immensely  increased  pro- 
portions. It  is  one  of  the  most  spacious  and  costly  church  edifices 
in  the  city.     There  is  a  great  arched  recess  for  the  pulpit,  with  a 

''  395 


EEV.     JAMES     O.     MURRAY,     D.  D. 

grand  organ  above,  faced  with  columns  of  variegated  marble.  In 
tbe  centre  of  the  building  hangs  a  magnificent  chandelier  which  has 
over  three  hundred  branches,  and  all  the  other  appointments  are  of 
the  same  costly  and  elegant  character.  The  property  down  town 
was  sold  first  to  the  government,  as  a  site  for  a  post-office,  but  the 
title  was  objected  to  by  reason  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the  vault 
owners,  and  snbsequently  a  sale  was  made  to  private  parties,  who 
immediately  improved  it. 

Dr.  Spring  was  ordained  as  the  pastor  August  10th,  1810,  and  has 
now  held  that  position  for  the  long  term  of  sixty-three  years.  He  is  an 
infirm  old  man  of  over  eighty  years,  and  his  sight  is  so  much  im- 
paired that  he  cannot  read,  and  has  to  be  led  wherever  he  goes.  He 
attends  church  quite  regularly,  taking  his  seat  in  his  pew  and  not  in 
the  pulpit,  but  sometimes  makes  an  extemporaneous  address.  From 
these  circumstances  the  heavy  labors  of  the  pastorship  of  the  church 
devolve  upon  Dr.  Murray.  The  congregation  is  still  very  large  and 
wealthy.  Dr.  Murray  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  College 
of  New  Jersey  at  Princeton  in  1867. 

Dr.  Murray  is  above  the  medium  height,  sparely  made,  and  erect 
and  active.  His  head  is  not  large,  and  his  features  are  small,  with  a 
thin  face,  but  his  brow  is  intellectual,  and  his  eyes  have  that  clear- 
ness which  sliows  them  to  be  windows  to  the  gifted  mind.  His 
whole  physical  organization  is  delicate  and  refined,  and  he  is  a  man 
in  whom  there  is  nothing  demonstrative,  except  so  far  as  it  may 
come  from  intellectual  force.  He  is  a  most  agreeable  person  in  his 
manners.  He  meets  you  with  a  high-toned  courtesy,  with  a  bland 
smile,  and  a  warm  pressure  of  the  hand.  He  is  easy  and  gracefid, 
and  has  that  rare  power  of  showing  perfect  freedom  of  manners 
without  sacrificing  the  dignity  which  is  always  becoming  in  a  clergy- 
man. A  quiet,  discreet-mannered  man  at  all  times,  polished  and 
affable  in  conversation,  genial  and  kind-hearted  in  his  nature,  Dr. 
Murray  possesses  those  qualities  which  are  most  admirable  and  popu- 
lar in  the  public  man  alike  with  the  private  citizen. 

He  is  a  man  of  so  much  calmness  and  unobtrusiveness  that  his 
characteristics  might  be  regarded  as  more  of  a  negative  than  a  posi- 
tive character.  He  is  not  one  to  push  liimself  into  the  foreground, 
and  he  is  a  willing  worker  under  the  leadership  of  other  men.  He 
is  truly  modest,  and  has  none  of  the  petty  feelings  of  jealousy  whicli 
sometimes  mar  the  comfort  of  the  greatest  men.  His  aim  is  to  be 
satisfied  with  bis  position,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  with  that  rank 

396 


■REV,     JAMES     O.     MURRAY,     D.  D. 

in  his  profession  and  in  the  line  of  duty  to  which  his  merits  and 
character  may  advance  him  without  any  special  efforts  of  his  own. 
However  passive  and  indifferent  he  may  be  in  these  particulars, 
there  is  nothing  negative  in  his  Christian  character  or  in  his  Christian 
works.  In  these  respects  he  is  as  bold  and  aggressive  as  in  th/ 
others  he  is  mild  and  non-combatant.  His  whole  life  is  marked  by 
a  consistency,  purity,  and  perfection  in  the  illustration  of  moral  and 
religious  example  in  both  precept  and  practice.  There  have  been 
no  deviations,  uo  compromises,  no  i'alling  short,  but  exactness,  truth- 
fulness, and  consistency  in  all  respects.  He  has  offended  no  man  by 
scorning  his  opinions,  but  has  secured  the  admiration  of  all  by  his 
faithfulness  in  his  own.  By  his  wise  policy  of  exalting  principles 
and  underrating  himself,  he  has  won  many  a  victory  for  those  princi- 
ples, and  at  the  same  time  shown  a  triumph  over  the  weaknesses  of 
mortal  nature.  Hence,  with  a  nature  singularly  modest  and  unselfish, 
he  lias  a  force  and  power  which  is  positive  and  omnipotent,  coming 
simply  from  the  purity  and  perfection  of  his  life.  His  daily  steps, 
his  gentle  counsels,  and  his  earnest  faith,  are  influences  of  irresistible 
power  among  his  fellow-men.  There  are  those  who  may  fill  a  larger 
place  in  public  notice,  and  who  may  make  more  noise  and  display 
in  the  discharge  of  their  professional  duties,  but,  after  all,  there  are 
few  who  have  more  real  and  substantial  influence  over  the  consciences 
and  conduct  of  others  than  this  devoted  and  excellent  pastor. 

Dr.  Murray  has  considerable  scholarly  attainments,  and  a  gi-eat 
deal  of  power  as  a  preacher.  He  has  been  a  close  and  laborious 
student,  and  has  that  quick  and  ardent  mind  which  is  not  satisfied 
without  a  wide  range  of  study  and  entire  thoroughness  in  it.  Thus, 
as  a  scholar,  he  is  fitted  to  take  a  position  with  the  most  talented  of 
his  denomination ;  and  his  happy  faculty  of  diction,  and  his  logical 
and  convincing  style  as  a  preacher,  give  him  those  additional  quali- 
ties which  are  most  requisite  for  the  pastor  of  an  intelligent  and 
high-toned  congregation  like  that  of  the  Brick  Church.  In  his 
position,  superficialit}^  and  sensationalism  will  not  do.  He  has  a 
congregation  of  thinking  people,  and  they  require  the  Sabbath 
thoughts  of  a  thinking  pastor.  He  must  go  far  beneath  the  service 
to  the  very  root  of  scholarship  and  doctrine ;  he  must  not  only  make 
his  opinions  plain,  but  he  must  support  them  with  the  authority  of 
the  learning  and  reasoning  of  his  own.  Probably  no  man  ever 
passed  a  keener  criticism  than  Dr.  Murray  in  obtaining  his  present 
pastorship,  and  the  very  fact  that  he  is  in  it  is  the  highest  proof  of 

397 


REV.     JAMES     O.     MURRAY,     D.  D. 

his  capability.  His  attitude  in  the  pulpit  is  dignified,  but  bland 
and  kindly,  like  his  manners  out  of  it.  You  see  modesty  and  pro- 
priety in  all  that  he  does,  and  likewise  a  high  and  just  conception 
of  the  responsible  and  sacred  duties  which  engage  him.  His  ser- 
mons are  couched  in  graceful  and  well-chosen  terms,  and  are  always 
strong  and  convincing  in  argument  His  deep  personal  conscien- 
tiousness, and  his  absorbing  interest  in  the  religious  welfare  of  his 
fellow-men,  are  clearly  shown  in  every  line.  He  addresses  himself 
to  the  mind  and  to  the  heart  of  his  hearers,  but  he  does  not  neglect 
to  show  them  that  his  words  are  his  own  convictions,  and  his  state- 
ment of  their  duty  is  accepted  as  not  less  the  measure  of  his  own. 
Dr.  Murray  is  the  ministerial  associate  of  one  of  the  most  illus- 
trious men  who  ever  adorned  the  American  pulpit.  His  commanding 
talents  and  his  noble  life  have  received  the  fullest  indorsement  from 
bis  aged  and  experienced  associate,  and  he  pursues  his  labors  with 
Dr.  Spiing's  warm  encouragement  and  sincere  commendation.  One  of 
these  godly  men  is  tottering  to  his  grave  after  a  life-long  service  of 
honor  and  fame,  and  the  other  is  climbing  upward  to  the  same  pin- 
nacle, guided  by  the  same  steadfast  principles  of  faith,  and  inspired 
by  the  same  sense  of  duty  to  his  religion  and  to  mankind.  The  race 
of  one  is  nearly  run — marked  as  it  has  been  by  its  personal  virtues 
and  its  professional  greatness;  and  the  career  of  the  other  will  un- 
doubtedly culminate  in  equal  glory,  and  throughout  be  as  highly 
advantageous  to  the  welfare  of  the  church  and  the  community  at 
large.  The  aged  servant  of  the  Lord  may  go  to  his  reward  with  his 
mission  fulfilled,  and  his  work  well  done.  Moreover,  he  will  have 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his  vacant  place  will  be  taken  by 
one  chosen  bj  himself  to  its  arduous  but  exalted  duties,  and  one 
whose  talents  are  a  sure  guarrantee  of  his  success  as  his  virtues  are 
of  his  faithfulness. 

398 


PtEY.  WILLIAM  W.  NEWELL,  D.  D, 

PAJSTOK     OF     THE    ^T^LEIV     STREET     PKESBY- 
TEIil^IV    CHUKCH,    IVETT    YORlt. 


EY.  DR.  WILLIAM  W.  NEWELL  was  bom  at  Natick, 
'£)  Massachusetts,  September  17tb,  1807.  He  prepared  for 
college  at  the  Phillips'  Academy  at  Andover,  was  grad- 
^^^"^  uated  at  Yale  College  in  1830,  and  took  his  theological 
course  at  Andover.  He  was  first  settled  at  Brighton,  Massa- 
chusetts, as  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church,  where  he  was 
installed  August  19th,  183-1.  He  remained  three  years,  and  then 
went  to  the  Maverick  Congregational  Church,  Boston,  where  he 
officiated  four  years,  when  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the  posi- 
tion by  finding  the  climate  too  severe  for  him.  His  next  place  of 
service  was  over  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Montgomery,  Orange 
county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained  six  years.  He  was  subsequently 
called  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Syracuse,  where  he  remained 
thirteen  years.  In  January,  1860,  he  was  installed  in  his  jDresent 
position  of  pastor  of  the  Allen  street  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York, 
where  he  has  had  a  most  successful  ministry. 

The  Allen  street  church  is  one  of  the  old  religious  organizations 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  is  still  in  a  very  flourishing  condition. 
On  the  1st  of  ^fa}',  1816,  the  ladies  of  New  York  formed  a  missionary 
society,  and  employed  a  missionary  to  labor  in  the  most  destitute 
portions  of  the  city.  To  facilitate  his  labors,  a  house  of  worship 
was  erected  in  Madison  street,  near  the  corner  of  Catharine  street, 
which  was  dedicated  October  2oth,  1817.  This  edifice  was  built  of 
wood,  and  cost  about  twenty-five  hundred  dollars.  On  the  28th  of 
May,  1819,  eleven  individuals,  most  of  them  members  of  the  Brick 
Presbyterian  Church,  then  corner  Beekman  and  Nassau  streets,  met 
at  a  private  house,  and  organized  into  a  Presbyterian  church.  In 
1823,  the  church  edifice  was  removed  to  its  present  location  in  Allen 
street.  The  church  was  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gray  from 
1818  until  1827,  when  he  resigned.     During  the  two  following  years 

399 


REV.      WILLIAM     W.      NEWELL,     D.  D. 

the  congregation  was  without  a  regular  ministerial  supply,  and  be- 
came at  length  so  reduced  in  strength  that  the  edifice  was  offered  for 
sale.  By  the  aid  of  friends  and  the  strenuous  exertions  of  the  mem- 
bers tlie  sale  was  prevented. 

In  March,  1829,  tlie  Eev.  Henry  White  was  installed  the  first 
pastor  of  the  church,  when  it?  connection  with  the  missionary  society 
ceased,  and  the  congregation  defrayed  its  own  expenses.  The  pre- 
sent house  of  worship  was  opened  for  public  services  in  the  spring  of 
1834.  During  the  fall  of  1863,  a  mortgage  of  three  thousand  dollars, 
then  resting  upon  the  church  edifice,  was  removed,  and  the  building 
entirely  repaired  and  painted.  This  left  the  church  wholly  free  from 
debt.  Up  to  1866  there  had  been  connected  with  the  congregation 
fourteen  hundred  and  seventy-three  persons.  The  present  number 
of  members  is  seven  hundred  and  twenty,  and  there  are  fourteen  hun- 
dred and  thirty  children  in  the  parisb  and  different  mission  Sunday 
schools.  During  1867,  more  than  two  hundred  and  twenty  persons 
joined  the  church,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  were  admitted 
at  one  time,  most  of  these  being  young  men.  The  Sunday  school 
was  organized  in  1816,  three  years  before  the  organization  of  the 
church,  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Franklin  G.  Vail.  The  next 
superintendent  was  Samuel  L.  Kennedy,  who  served  about  twenty- 
two  years,  until  his  death  in  18-10.  The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
Sunday  school  was  celebrated  November  18th,  1861,  with  appropriate 
exercises.  At  that  time,  more  than  four  hundred  officers  and  teach- 
ers and  three  thousand  eiglit  hundred  scholars  had  been  members  of 
the  school.  Thirty  persons  converted  in  the  school  subsequently  be- 
came preachers  of  the  gospel. 

Rev.  Henry  White  resigned  the  pastorship  in  March,  1837,  and 
Rev.  William  Beadley  was  installed  December  3d,  1837,  and  dismissed 
April  7th,  1839;  Rev.  Dr.  George  B.  Cheever  was  installed  October 
10th,  1839,  and  dismissed  April  24th,  1844;  Rev.  Dr.  David  B.  Coe 
was  installed  October  14th,  1844,  and  dismissed  May  13th,  1849  ; 
Rev.  George  Thacher  was  installed  May  26th,  1850,  and  dismissed 
October  15th,  1854;  Rev.  George  C.  Lucas  was  installed  April  11th, 
1855,  and  dismissed  November  15th,  1859 ;  Rev.  Dr.  William  W. 
Newell  entered  upon  his  labors  January  20th,  1860,  and  was  installed 
February  8th,  1860,  by  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Newell  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Hamilton  College 
in  1859.     He  passed  some  time  in  Europe  in  1858,  and  on  his  return 

4Q0 


REV.     WILLIAM     W.      NEWELL,     D.  D. 

published  a  volume  of  travels  entitled  "Coutinental  Sketches."'  He 
has  also  published  various  occasional  sermons. 

Dr.  Newell  is  of  tall,  thin  person,  and  erect  carriage.  He  has  a 
head  of  medium  size,  with  regular  features,  and  an  expression  of 
mingled  amiability  and  intelligence.  He  is  a  man  of  plain  manners, 
and  all  his  qualities  are  those  of  the  more  sedate  and  substantial  l^ind. 
He  makes  every  one  entirely  at  home  with  himself,  talks  freely  and 
frankly  on  all  subjects,  secular  as  well  as  religions,  and  shows  a  gen- 
tle heart,  a  clear,  comprehensive  mind,  and  thorough  devotion  to 
principles  and  duty.  His  life  has  been  one  of  study,  and  energetic, 
conscientious  ministerial  labor. 

Dr.  Newell's  style  of  preaching  may  be  described  as  something 
peculiar  to  himself  It  is  fatherly,  tender,  and  devout  to  the  utmost 
degree.  He  does  not  take  a  position  of  authority  over  the  bearer, 
but  with  soft  words  and  impressive  counsels  he  subdues  the  mind 
and  heart  to  his  control.  His  sincere,  devout  manner,  and  his  affec- 
tionate tone,  render  his  appeals  particularly  effective  with  young  per- 
sons. They  find  that  he  makes  everything  clear  by  the  use  of  plain, 
comprehensive  language,  and,  beside  this,  indulges  in  a  strain  of  elo- 
quent religious  pathos  which  few  can  withstand.  He  melts  them  to 
tears,  he  touches  the  secret  springs  of  feeling  in  the  soul  until  it  wells 
up  and  overflows  with  spiritual  desires,  and  he  plants  the  feet  of  the 
convert  on  the  rock  of  faith.  His  ministry  in  New  York  stands  a 
monument  for  all  time  to  his  energy,  talents,  and  faith. 

•101 


ui^:y.  HENRY  d.  northrop, 

T»j%^)-KTOn    or      THE    TTVEiVTY-TIilHO    STREET 
I»IlESI}Vr  rEIllA.jV     CHXJKOH,    IVEAV     YOUIt. 


EV.  HENEY  D.  NORTHROP  was  born  in  Steuben 
county,  New  York,  March  lOib,  1836.  His  early  studies 
were  at  Homer,  Cortlandt  county,  and  he  was  graduated  at 
Amherst  College,  Massachusetts,  in  1857.  His  theolog- 
ical studies  were  at  the  Union  Tlieological  Seminary,  New 
2^  York,  and  at  the  Theological  School  of  Yale  College,  at 
which  latter  institution  he  concluded  these  studies  in  1859.  In  the 
same  year  he  went  to  London,  England,  where  he  spent  several 
months  in  a  missionary  work.  Returning  to  the  United  States  in 
1860,  he  was  ordained  and  installed,  by  the  Congregational  Associa- 
tion of  Brooklyn,  as  pastor  of  the  Park  Congregational  Church  of 
that  city,  where  he  remained  a  year  and  a  half 

While  abroad  he  had  made  his  mark  as  an  eloquent  and  2;ealous 
worker  in  the  spiritual  field.  In  1860,  he  conducted  the  services  of 
the  celebrated  Mr.  Spurgeon,  at  Exeter  Hall,  and  in  the  Park  street 
church,  during  the  absence  of  that  gentleman  on  the  continent.  In- 
ducements were  offered  him  to  return  to  London  and  enter  again  upon 
a  missionar}^  labor.  Accordingly,  he  a  second  time  crossed  the  ocean, 
and  began  his  work  in  Bethnal  Green  Parish,  wliich  is  cliiefly  popu- 
lated by  a  working  class,  many  of  whom  are  hand-weavers.  Here  he 
started  what  is  now  known  as  the  "Victoria  Park  Congregational 
Church,  with  one  person.  Tlie  enterprise  prospered,  and  it  soon  be- 
came necessary  to  build  a  church.  A  piece  of  land  was  leased  from 
the  crown  for  ninety-nine  years,  and  a  plain,  substantial  iron  building 
put  up  at  a  cost  of  about  twelve  thousand  dollars.  An  interesting  cir- 
cumstance in  this  connection  is,  that  this  land  is  a  portion  of  what  is 
known  as  the  "Bishop  Bonner  estate,"  which  individual,  in  his  day, 
was  a  noted  pei'secutor  of  the  dissenters.  Mr.  Northrop  remained  in 
this  church  for  a  period  of  three  years.  The  church  was  self-sup- 
porting from  the  beginning,  and  when  Mr.  Northrop  left  it  there  were 

402 


EEV.     HENRY     D.     NORTHROP. 

twelve  hundred  sittings  let.  The  membership  amounted  to  fifteen 
hundred,  and  the  attendance  at  times  to  twentj-five  hundred  people. 
The  work  in  this  locality  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  successful 
ever  undertaken  in  London. 

For  one  year  Mr.  Northrop  was  engaged  in  preaching  in  different 
parts  of  England,  and  a  great  deal  in  Scotland.  This  effort  was  made 
under  an  arrangement  with  a  committee  of  gentlemen,  of  whom  the 
Earl  of  Shaftsbury  was  one  of  the  most  prominent.  Wherever  he 
went  crowds  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  his  iaboi-s  as  an  evangelist  re- 
ceived the  warmest  approval  from  the  friends  of  religion  throughout 
the  United  Kingdom. 

At  length  he  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1867,  he  officiated  temporarily  as  the  pastor  of  the  College 
street  Congregational  Churcli,  New  Haven.  In  October  of  the  same 
year,  he  was  called  to  the  Twenty-third  street  Presbyterian  Church, 
New  York,  and  was  installed  in  February,  1868. 

The  Twenty -third  street  Presbyterian  Chui'ch  was  organized  in 
1834.  At  that  time  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  instituted  a  relig- 
ious movement  to  meet  "  the  wants  of  that  section  of  the  city  on  the 
Eighth  avenue."  Preaching  was  held  in  Twenty-thiixi  street  and 
other  neighboring  localities  for  sometime,  when  lots  were  obtained  on 
Twenty-third  street,  near  Seventh  avenue,  where  a  large  and  impos- 
ing churcli  edifice  was  erected.  The  cost  of  the  whole  property  was 
about  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  thecliurch  is  now  entirely  free  Irom 
debt.  In  April,  1852,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Fi-ederick  Gr.  Claris  was  installed 
as  the  pastor,  and  thus  continued  for  fifteen  years.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  Northrop,  under  whose  chai'ge  the  church  is  very 
flourishing. 

Mr.  Northrop  is  under  the  medium  height,  equally  pro|>ortioned, 
and  erect.  He  has  a  head  of  marked  intellectual  peculiarities.  The 
lower  part  of  the  face  is  narrow,  but  the  brow  is  round  and  full,  and 
broad  and  high.  His  brain  must  be  massive,  for  the  propcu-tions  of 
the  forehead  are  mucb  in  excess  of  the  other  portions  of  the  head. 
His  eyes  are  light,  with  a  clear,  intelligent  look,  and,  while  there  is 
much  thoughtfulness  about  the  face,  it  has  always  a  cheerful  and 
amiable  expression.  You  see  at  once  that  he  is  a  thinker  and 
worker,  and  that  he  is  one  who  is  not  less  quick  in  the  application  of 
his  mind  and  energies  than  he  is  tireless  in  liis  zeal.  His  manners 
are  warmly  courteous  and  winning.  He  does  nothing  for  the  mere 
sake  of  dignity,  but  he  acts  the  gentleman  naturally,  and  maijitains 

403 


KEY.     HENRY     D.     NORTHROP. 

tlie  credit  of  his  professional  position  without  the  sacrifice  of  any  of 
that  humility,  courtesy,  and  kindness  which  are  taught  by  its  princi- 
ples. His  gi-asp  of  the  hand  is  warm,  sincei'e,  and  bi-otherly,  and  his 
words  are  gentle,  just,  and  Christian.  He  talks  without  reserve,  he 
enters  into  your  feelings  whatever  they  may  be,  and  he  wins  your  re- 
spect at  the  same  time  that  he  interests  and  fascinates  you. 

Mr.  Northrop  is  a  shrewd,  far-seeing  man.  He  is  familiar  Vvdth 
the  world's  affairs  and  with  men's  hearts.  He  thinks  practically,  and 
he  works  in  the  same  way.  His  mind  is  far-reaching  and  compre- 
hensive in  all  its  bearings,  and  his  action  is  always  taken  understand- 
ingly.  With  great  talents  for  the  ministry,  he  has  far  more  of  that 
common-sense  and  matter-of-fact  comprehensiveness  in  regard  to 
mankind  than  is  to  be  found  in  most  ministers.  Hence  his  success 
in  the  missionary  work  in  London  and  elsewhere.  He  went  among 
the  humble  homes  of  the  poor  hand-weavers  and  others,  with  no 
more  pretension  than  they  had  themselves,  and  with  no  less  interest 
and  sympathy  with  human  privations  and  sorrows.  When  he  ad- 
dressed them  from  the  pulpit,  it  was  not  only  with  the  power  to 
expound  the  Scriptures,  lji.it  with  a  wonderful  insight  into  the  basis 
and  motives  of  character,  and  the  trials  and  heroism  of  daily  life.  It 
is  true  that  he  spoke  with  the  intelligence  and  authority  of  the  or- 
dained preacher  of  the  word  of  God,  but  he  entered  as  a  friend  and 
brother  into  the  sunshine  and  clouds  of  their  hearts  and  homes. 
They  crowded  to  hear  him,  and  they  loved  him.  He  gave  them  com- 
forting counsel  for  this  world's  burdens,  and  fanned  the  fires  of  faith 
in  the  better  one  to  come.  He  was  certainly  the  right  man  in  the 
right  place.  He  made  no  mistake  in  regard  to  the  attitude  which  he 
should  assume  with  regard  to  such  a  population.  His  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  and  his  clear  conceptions  of  the  stern,  severe  life  of 
the  laboring  classes  in  Great  Britain,  enabled  him  to  address  him- 
self to  the  work  in  a  manner  most  calculated  to  produce  success. 
The  religious  and  moral  effects  of  his  etforts  will  never  be  lost.  The 
work  which  he  commenced  so  practically  is  now  on  an  enduring  basis. 
The  light  of  the  cross  which  a  stranger,  coming  from  another  land 
three  thousand  miles  distant  across  the  ocean,  first  displayed  to  the 
lowly  and  benighted,  is  destined  to  burn  through  the  present  and 
coming  generations.  In  his  own  land  his  work  is  just  as  earnest  and 
successful.  All  his  talents  and  all  his  zeal  are  given  unsparingly  in 
the  cause  of  the  redemption  of  man. 

401 


EEY.  FREDERICK  OGILBY,  D.  1)., 

ASSIST  AlVT     ^IINISTEK       OF     TRIIVITY       TP^^^RISH, 
OFFTCTA.TIISG    ATT    THIIVITY    CHEUKCH. 


EV.  DR  FEEDERICK  OGILBY  is  one  of  the  assistant 
ministers  of  Trinity  ParisL,  and  officiates  at  Trinity 
Cliurcli.  He  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  December 
27tb,  1815.  He  came  to  tlie  city  of  ISTew  York  before  be 
was  ten  years  old.  He  is  the  brother  of  the  late  Eev.  Dr.  John 
«2i3  D.  Ogilby,  first  rector  of  Columbia  College  Grammar  School, 
Professor  of  Hebrew  at  Rutgers  College,  and  Professor  of  Ecclesias- 
tical History  at  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Seminar}'.  The 
subject  of  our  notice,  after  three  years  of  study  at  Columbia  Coll  ge, 
spent  the  last  collegiate  j^ear  at  Rutgers  College,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1886.  He  occupied  himself  as  a  tutor  for  two  years,  and  then 
entered  the  middle  class  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  and 
was  graduated  in  two  years.  He  was  first  settled  over  the  three 
parishes  of  Rahway,  Woodbridge,  and  Piscataway,  New  Jersey,  in 
which  position  he  remained  a  single  year :  then  becoming  assistant 
to  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  at  Grace  Church,  New  York,  but  after  one  year 
returned  to  the  parishes  of  Woodbridge  and  Piscataway.  Three 
years  later  he  visited  Europe.  About  this  time  the  law  of  England, 
forbidding  any  but  the  minister  ordained  within  the  realm  from 
officiating  in  the  English  churches,  was  repealed,  and  at  the  invitation 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hooke,  vicar  of  Leeds,  Dr.  Ogilby  preached  the  first 
lawful  sermon  by  a  clergyman  of  the  American  Church.  Under  the 
permission^  which  has  to  be  obtained  of  the  bishop,  two  sermons  can 
be  preached;  and  in  Dr.  Ogilby "s  case,  he  preached  his  first  at  that 
time,  and  the  second  ten  years  afterward.  Dr.  Ogilby  has  made  two 
other  visits  abroad,  and  preached  repeatedly  in  both  England  and 
Ireland. 

On  his  first  return  to  the  United  States,  he  became  assistant  to 
Bishop  Doane  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Burlington,  and  at  the  termina- 
tion of  a  little  more  than  a  year  was  called  to  the  chm-ch  of  the  As- 


405 


REV.     FREDERICK     OGILBY,     D.  D. 

cension,  Pbiladelpbia,  where  he  remained  fourteen  years.  In  con- 
nection with  his  rectorship,  he  edited  the  Banner  of  the  Cross,  a  relig- 
ious paper,  during  seven  years  of  this  period.  He  assumed  his 
present  position  of  one  of  the  assistant  ministers  of  Trinity  Parish, 
New  York,  in  July,  1856;  and  has  now  regularly  officiated  at 
Trinity  Church  for  a  period  of  seventeen  years.  His  degree  of  D.  D. 
was  conferred  by  Eutgers  College  a  few  years  subsequent  to  his 
settlement  in  New  York.  His  publications  consist  of  occasional  ser- 
mons. One  of  his  most  impressive  discourses  was  a  sermon  preached 
on  the  Sunday  morning  following  the  death  of  Bishop  Doane,  in  St. 
Mary's  Church,  Burlington,  which  was  wholly  prepai-ed  after  the 
funeral  service  on  Saturday. 

Dr.  Ogilby  is  of  the  average  height,  with  a  well-proportioned 
figure.  There  is  considerable  studied  dignity  about  'nim,  and  he  has 
much  courtly,  ceremonious  politeness.  His  features  are  regular  and 
expressive  of  intellectual  capacity.  He  is  a  man  of  method  and 
strict  discipline  in  all  the  affairs  of  life,  even  to  the  minor  and  un- 
important matters. 

His  manners  at  all  times  are  those  of  the  cultivated,  traveled  gen- 
tleman. His  dignified  reserve  is  always  combined  "with  the  utmost 
regard  for  the  great  and  little  observances  of  politeness  and  etiquette. 
He  is  approachable  to  all,  and  none  can  complain  that  there  is  any 
want  of  the  civilities  which  make  personal  intercourse  agreeable;  but 
notwithstanding  this,  he  maintains  a  barrier  of  frigid  dignity  beyond 
a  certain  point,  which  none  ever  pass.  His  associations  in  this 
country  and  abroad  have  been  with  the  most  distinguished  and 
learned  men  of  the  day,  but  it  is  not  his  reputation  either  to  practice 
or  forgive  familiarity. 

By  following  Dr.  Ogilby's  career,  it  is  seen  that  he  has  occupied 
many  excellent  and  conspicuous  positions.  His  qualifications  as  a 
scholar  undoubtedly  entitle  him  to  such  exaltations.  This  apprecia- 
tion by  influential  circles  has  been  such  that  there  was  no  difficulty 
in  securing  it.  llis  extensive  acquirements  and  purity  of  character 
have  given  him  the  confidence  of  his  professional  contemporaries,  and 
his  immediate  congregations,  aware  of  nis  good  works,  have  exhibited 
much  attachment  for  him.  His  sermons  are  well  written  and  schol- 
arly productions.  In  his  delivery  he  is  most  devout.  He  most 
worthily  fills  the  position  of  a  clergyman  in  all  its  professional  and 
social  demands.  No  name  stands  higher  in  the  Episcopal  church, 
and  no  character  is  more  of  an  example  to  his  fellow-meru 

406 


REV.  WILLIAM   ORMISION,   D.  D., 

ONE    OI?    THE     P^VSTOKS     OF    THE     COEEEGI-A.TE 
KEFOR]VXED  CHXJllCH,    3VEW    YOKK. 


EV.  DE.  WILLIAM  ORMISTON  was  born  at  the  Castle 
Hill  farm,  in  the  parish  of  Symington,  Lanarkshire,  Scot- 
land, on  the  banks  of  the  Clyde,  April  23d,  1821.  His 
fatlier,  Mr.  Thomas  Ormiston,  rented  the  Castle  Hill  and 
Town  Head  farms.  During  his  tenth  year,  the  family  removed 
^  to  a  farm  at  Hobble's  Ho\ve,  near  Edinburgh,  and  the  boy  at- 
tended school  in  the  village  of  West  Linton,  or  assisted  upon  the  farm. 
This  section  is  noted  for  the  hallowed  scenes  of  the  persecution  of  the 
Covenanters,  and  also  of  the  poet,  Allan  Ramsey's  "  Gentle  Shepherd." 
William  found  in  his  mother,  a  woman  of  strong  intelligence,  his  con- 
stant guide  m  study;  she  took  pains  to  instruct  him,  especially  in  the 
history  and  popular  traditions  of  the  country.  In  1834,  the  family 
emigrated  to  Canada,  and  settled  in  the  township  of  Darlington,  about 
thirty  miles  east  of  Toronto.  "  William  spent  four  years  on  the  farm," 
says  a  biographer,  "  taking  a  man's  share,  though  only  a  boy  in  years, 
in  all  the  toil,  the  tear  and  wear  of  felling  trees;  in  crop-cutting  and 
rolling  logs  into  piles  ;  in  burning  the  piles,  digging,  plowhig,  har- 
rowing, sowing,  mowing,  harvesting,  threshing,  and  conveying  produce 
to  market ;  making  or  mending  implements  of  woi'k ;  repairing  his 
boots  or  the  harness  of  the  horses  at  hours  wlien  others  would  have 
rested  ;  yet  all  the  while  reading  books  and  acquiring  a  knowledge  of 
arithmetic,  mathematics,  and  Latin,  so  far  as  books  could  assist  with- 
out a  teacher." 

At  lengtl ,  when  in  his  eighteenth  year,  his  ambition  and  sense  of 
duty  to  himr  ^Jf  forced  him  to  the  determination  to  leave  home,  and 
by  some  means  obtain  an  education.  His  father  and  mother  both 
agreed  that  it  was  proper  for  liim  to  do  so  ;  and  the  former  even  pro- 
posed to  sell  a  portion  of  the  land  to  meet  the  expense  of  a  school  anu 
college  course.  William,  however,  would  not  consent  to  this,  but, 
without  as  much  as  a  sixpence  or  a  penny  at  his  command,  went  to 

•i07 


REV.      WILLIAM     ORMISTON.     D.  D. 

the  town  of  Whitby  and  opened  a  scliool.  It  prospered,  and  he  sup- 
ported himself  entirely  on  the  fees,  while  he  prepared  for  entei-ing 
College.  In  1843,  he  became  a  student  at  Victoria  College,  Coburg, 
where  he  took  the  degree  of  B.  A.  in  1847.  Daring  all  the  time  of 
his  studies,  he  filled  a  tutorship,  and  for  two  years  occupied  the  chair 
of  Moral  Philosophy  and  Logic.  In  1849,  he  was  ordained  to  the 
Ministry  in  connection  with  the  Canadian  branch  of  the  Scottish 
United  Presbyterian  church.  He  became  pastor  of  the  church  in  New- 
ton and  Newcastle,  and  still  pursued  his  studies  in  the  classics, 
theoloo-v,  and  science.  He  also  held  the  office  of  Local  Superintend- 
ent of  Education  for  the  township  of  Clarke.  Removing  to  Toronto, 
in  1853,  he  served  four  years  as  Mathematical  Master,  and  Lecturer 
on  Chemistry  and  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  Normal  School.  He 
likewise  found  opportunity  to  visit  almost  every  point  of  Upper  Can- 
ada, as  a  speaker  on  temperance  and  other  kindred  moral  topics.  In 
1855,  he  was  appointed  Inspector  of  grammar  schools,  first  for  the 
whole  of  Canada  West,  but  subsequently  for  half  of  that  vast  area, 
and  later  he  also  held  the  local  suj)erintendency  of  the  public  schools 
of  Hamilton.  These  positions  were  finally  given  np  by  reason  of 
the  pressure  of  other  duties  and  delicacy  of  health. 

In  1857,  he  accepted  a  call,  which  he  had  previously  declined,  to 
the  pastorship  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Cluii-ch  of  Hamilton.  A 
beautiful  church  was  erected  for  him.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D. 
from  the  New  York  University,  in  1860.  In  1862,  he  visited 
Great  Britain  for  the  first  time  since  he  left  it  as  a  boy.  He  preached 
on  several  occasions  in  London,  and  spoke  before  the  Free  Church 
Assembly  in  Edinburgh.  On  his  return  he  delivered  a  series  of  lec- 
tures descriptive  of  his  travels.  Frequently  visiting  the  United 
States,  he  was  heard  at  public  meetings,  general  assemblies,  and  con- 
ventions. He  was  invited  to  settle  in  many  of  the  chief  cities,  and 
in  London,  England.  He  declined  all  these  calls,  as  he  was  devoted 
to  his  work  in  Canada,  where  his  influence  and  success  were  equal  to 
any  public  man  of  the  day.  He  made  a  second  tour  in  Europe  dur- 
ing 1867.  In  1870,  after  thirteen  years  of  labor,  he  received  a  call 
to  New  York,  which  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  accept.  His  congre- 
gation parted  with  him  greatly  to  their  regret.  Both  himself  and 
wife  received  various  valuable  tokens  of  good  will.  A  public  break- 
fast was  extended  to  Dr.  Ormiston  by  the  citizens  of  Hamilton,  and 
in  every  quarter  his  departure  from  Canada  was  regaj-ded  as  a  pub- 
lic misfortune.  408 


REV.     WILLIAM     ORMISTON,     D.  D. 

On  Snndpcy  evening,  September  lltb,  1870,  lie  was  installed  as  one 
of  the  pastors  of  the  ancient  and  wealthy  Collegiate  Reformed  church 
of  New  York,  in  the  church  corner  of  Fifth  avenue  and  Twenty-ninth 
street,  which  had  been  specially  assigned  to  him.  From  the  earliest 
period  it  was  the  custom  of  the  ministers  of  the  Collegiate  church  to 
preach  in  rotation  at  the  different  churches  of  the  corporation.  On 
the  coming  of  Dr.  Ormiston,  however,  a  change  was  made  in  this  ar- 
rangement. The  Rev.  Dr.  De  Witt,  after  sixty  years  in  the  ministry, 
was  retired  from  active  service,  on  a  salary  of  five  thousand  dollars 
per  annum  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Chambers  assumed  entire  charge  as  pastor  of 
the  Lafayette  Place  church  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Ormiston  of  the  Fifth  avenue 
and  Twenty-ninth  street;  Rev.  Dr.  Ludlow,  of  the  new  edifice  on  the 
corner  of  Fifth  avenue  and  Forty-eight  street;  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ver- 
milye  is  to  preach  in  each  church  once  in  five  weeks.  The  real  estate 
of  the  corporation  is  valued  at  eight  millions  of  dollars.  The  preach- 
ing of  Dr.  Ormiston  from  the  outset  drew  great  crowds,  and  made  the 
same  profound  impression  which  it  had  done  in  Canada.  He  also  be- 
came an  earnest  worker  in  the  religious,  moral,  and  philanthropic 
field  everywhere.  He  delivered  a  series  of  lectures  on  "  The  Import 
and  Yalue  of  Churches,"  at  the  Free  Lay  Theological  College  in  Brook- 
lyn, and  on  other  subjects  before  different  church  associations.  In 
1871,  he  visited  the  South.  In  the  summer  of  1872  he  went  to  Cal- 
ifornia, where  he  traveled  extensively  and  preached  in  San  Francisco. 
Many  of  his  sermons,  lectures,  and  addresses  have  appeared  in  print. 

The  striking  personal  appearance  of  Dr.  Ormiston  is  well  described 
by  a  newspaper  writer  in  the  following  language: 

"  He  is  tall,  very  tall  and  sqiiare,  but  neither  his  height  nor  his  figure,  nor  yet 
his  motions  arrest  your  attention  when  you  look  into  his  face,  and  listen  to  his  de- 
licious voice.  There  is  an  honesty  of  utterance  with  which  the  sounds  harmonize, 
and  make  the  sweetest  of  music.  His  face  and  head  suggest  th6se  peculiar  photo- 
graphs of  the  moon,  that  show  a  light  half  which  deepens  into  shadow  on  the  low- 
er edge.  His  head  is  a  high,  smooth  dome,  around  which  his  hair  frizzes  to  a  height 
equal  to  that  of  his  immense  forehead,  and  it  radiates  Lke  a  halo  in  every  direction. 
It  is  of  extraordinary  texture,  suggesting  a  fleecy  mass  of  crimpled  floss,  in  which  are 
the  daintiest  touches  of  silver.  This  dark  background  assists  him  to  a  greater  sim- 
ilarity to  the  moon,  than  his  head  would  furnish  if  he  were  bald.  His  eyebrows  are 
like  cliffs,  which  are  bordered  with  furze,  and  under  whose  shadows  burn  unquench- 
able lamps.  The  distance  from  his  eyes  to  his  lips  is  unusually  great,  gi^^ug  great 
length  to  his  nose,  through  which  he  takes  slow,  long,  and  steady  respirations.  His 
upper  lip  is  also  very  long,  with  a  deep  line  in  the  center;  the  expression  of  his 
mouth  is  both  firm  and  pitiful.  His  smile  is  like  sunshine  passing  over  a  rocky  sur- 
face, and  then  leaving  it  in  partial  gloom  again.  His  chin  is  massive  as  becomes  a 
face  of  such  great  power,  and  a  head  of  such  magnitude.     You  watch  him  in  bis  de- 


REV.      WILLIAM     ORMISTON,     D.  D. 

nunciatory  moods,  and  imagine  that  he  is  one  of  the  mills  of  the  Gods,  and  that  his 
words  could  grind  you  to  powder.  At  other  times  he  seems  like  an  earnest  child, 
whose  spirit  has  taken  possession  of  a  giant,  and  was  unchanged  in  its  sweetness  and 
tenderness  by  the  huge  body  it  lived  in." 

The  Eev.  Dr.  S.  L  Prime  thus  writes  of  Dr.  Ormiston's  style  and 
power  in  the  pulpit : 

"  Thoroughly  orthodox  after  the  Scotch  pattern,  and  with  just  a  little  Scotch  ac- 
cent and  brogue,  he  pours  out  a  stream  of  glowing,  earnest,  strong,  old-fashioned, 
gospel  truth,  with  now  and  then  a  quaint,  half-humorous  illustration,  yet  beating 
down  all  cavil  and  objection  with  the  arm  of  logical  force  and  all  the  points  of  Scrip- 
ture proof,  and  sweeping  along  on  the  tide  of  resistless  eloquence,  he  carries  the  judg- 
ment and  feelings  of  the  people  with  him,  until  they  are  compelled  to  admit  the  over- 
whelming force  of  the  mighty  tiuths  of  the  great  message.  Yet  with  all  this  tre- 
mendous energy  of  manner,  and  elective  nervous  power,  flashing  in  his  noble  black 
eye,  working  in  his  graceful  gesticulation,  and  leaping  out  in  the  clarion  tones  of 
his  well  modulated  voice,  he  is  mild  and  soothing  in  his  gentle  moods,  touching  the 
heart-strings  with  sweet,  plaintive,  tender  tones  and  words,  his  own  eyes  filling  with 
tears  as  his  hearers  wept  with  him,  under  the  spell  of  his  pathetic  appeals." 

The  editor  of  the  New  York  Independent  says  of  Dr.  Ormiston  : 

*'  Some  of  his  sentences  are  very  fine.  Speaking  of  procrastination,  he  said  of 
Herod.  '  He  heard  John  gladly  and  asked  to  see  Christ ;  he  mocked  the  one  and  be- 
headed the  other.'  As  he  uttered  it,  this  sentence  thrilled  the  whole  audience. 
His  epithets  are  often  capital.  One  climax  of  denunciation  was  capped  with,  '  double- 
minded,  world-grasping,  Christ-catching  Christians.'  To  the  half-hearted  he  said 
again  :  '  As  it  is,  you're  but  a  miserable  servant  of  the  devil,  for  he  hasn't  over 
half  your  heart.  And  with  the  utmost  solemnity  he  said  :  '  All  that  is  necessary  to 
do  to  be  damned,  is  to  stand  still.'  We  cannot  possibly  give  on  paper,  any  idea  of 
the  half-droll  and  half-solemn  way  in  which  he  said  :  '  Ephraim  is  joined  to  his 
idols;  let  him  alone.  How  many  are  there  of  that  tribe  hero  to-night?'  Nor  of  the 
directness  with  which  he  shot  out  an  arrow  at  *  gray-haired  sinners  nodding  over 
the  tomb.'  Many  passages  were  dramatic  and  full  of  picturesqueness  ;  all  of  his  ef- 
fective utterances  are  indescribable.  PerhaiDS  the  finest  climax  of  the  sermon  was 
when  he  uttered  in  his  peculiar  and  almost  thunderous  way  this  sentence  :  '  There's 
not  an  atheistic  atom  in  the  universe,'  and  then,  springing  forward,  he  added,  'and 
there's  not  a  silent  conscience  in  this  house.'  In  the  silence  that  followed,  it  seem- 
ed that  tae  very  rafters  were  crying  out  as  witnesses  for  God." 

We  have  selected  these  extracts  to  show  from  different  sources 
the  high  praise  which  has  been  accorded  of  Dr.  Ormiston. 

It  is  true,  as  they  make  evident,  that  in  appearance,  talents,  man- 
ners, and  impressiveness.  both  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit,  he  is  a  most 
extraordinary  man.  He  stands  bold  and  distinctive  in  his  own  in- 
dividuality, and  in  his  influence  over  the  human  mind.  Consequently, 
be  readily  arrests  public  attention,  and  upholds  the  banner  of  faith 
with  the  arm  of  a  giant  However  heedless  he  may  be  personally 
of  fame,  his  glorious  work  has  secured  it  to  him  imperishably,  and 
the  history  of  the    American  church  will   record  him  as  foremost 

among  its  distinguished  and  faithful  members. 

410 


-H  - 


-is 


REY.  ABRAHAM  C.  OSBORN,    D.  D., 

PA.STOK,     OF     THE     SOUTH     BAPTIST    CHXJltCH, 
NETV  YORXt. 


|EV.  DR  ABRAHAM  C.  OSBORN  was  born  at  Scotch 
Plains,  New  Jersey,  (where  bis  ancestors  had  resided  from 
the  earliest  settlement  of  the  country,)  February  20th,  1831. 
He  is  the  eighth  child  of  Jonathan  and  Amelia  Osborn.  The 
following  account  is  given  of  his  early  home :  "  Deacon 
^  Jonathan  Osborn,  the  father  of  Dr.  Osborn,  was  a  farmer  in 
easy  circumstances ;  but  he  preserved  with  great  tenacity  all  the 
habits  of  industry  to  which  the  farmers  in  New  Jersey,  in  the  days  of 
his  youth,  had  been  disciplined.  Hard  and  continuous  labor  was  the 
rule  with  his  household,  and  to  it  all  his  children  were  faithfully  trained. 
But  neither  he  nor  his  wife  ever  for  a  moment  lost  sight  of  the  future 
of  their  children,  or  ceased  to  study  what  would  best  develop  them 
for  future  prosperity  or  usefulness.  The  farm  upon  which  they  lived 
comprised  but  seventy  acres  of  land — not  sufficient  to  settle  a  family 
about  them.  Having  always  an  aversion  to  placing  their  children  to 
learn  any  of  the  trades,  they  concluded  to  remove  to  a  newer  country, 
where  more  land  could  be  procured,  and  the  children  could  have  a 
larger  field  for  development,  and  greater  physical  and  mental  free- 
dom, in  a  less  densely  populated  country.  In  May,  1842,  he  removed 
to  the  town  of  Wilna,  Jefferson  county,  New  York,  where  he  settled 
upon  a  large  and  new  farm.  Here  it  was  that  the  youthful  training 
of  Dr.  Osborn  took  place.  Three  daughters  and  three  sons  were  then 
living.  With  unflinching  industry  the  family  labored  together  to 
open  to  cultivation  a  tract  of  land,  nearly  all  of  which  was  primitive 
forest,  and  transform  it  into  a  fine  and  highly  productive  dairy  farm. 
Under  this  training  Dr.  Osborn,  with  his  brothers,  became  an  able  and 
skillful  farmer,  and  developed  a  physical  strength  and  powers  of  en- 
durance that  contributed  largely  to  his  future  success." 

411 


REV.     ABRAHAM    C.    OSBORlSr,     D.  D. 

Young  Osborn,  however,  was  always  restless  in  the  narrow 
sphere  in  which  he  found  himself,  and  at  length  concluded  to  make 
the  venture  of  securing  a  liberal  education,  depending  upon  his  own 
head  and  hands  only  to  secure  his  success.  In  August,  1849,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  he  left  the  old  log-house,  where  he  had  passed  seven 
years  of  his  youth,  and  entered  the  academy  at  Carthage,  in  the  same 
county.  He  remained  one  term,  and  then  taught,  for  the  winter,  a 
district  school  in  West  Carthage.  In  the  spring  of  1850,  he  entered 
the  Gouverneur  Wesleyan  Seminary,  where  he  continued  until  the 
summer  of  1851.  In  August  of  that  year,  he  was  entered  as  a  Fresh- 
man in  the  Madison  University,  Hamilton,  New  York.  "  When  Dr. 
Osborn,"  says  a  statement,  "left  home  to  enter  Gouverneur  Seminarj^, 
he  was  witljout  a  dollar  in  the  world.  He  entered  into  an  engagement 
to  serve  as  janitor,  building  all  the  fires,  carrying  food,  and  sweeping 
all  the  rooms  in  a  large  academy,  to  pay  for  tuition  and  books.  He 
also  sawed,  split,  and  loaded  wood  for  a  villager,  in  return  for  his 
board.  These  engagements,  sufficient  in  themselves  to  fully  occupy 
a  strong  man,  were  faithfully  carried  out  for  two  academic  terms. 
During  the  summer  vacation  he  worked  by  the  mouth  in  the  hay- 
field  for  a  compensation  of  twenty  dollars  per  month,  and  thus  earned 
means  to  carry  him  through  the  last  two  terms  of  his  stay  in  the 
Seminar}',  without  doing  further  duty  as  janitor,  or  the  work  of  a  day 
laborer,  for  his  board.  Yet,  notwithstanding  these  severe  labors,  he 
stood  first  in  all  his  studies,  and  entered  the  University  one  year  in 
advance  of  any  other  member  of  a  large  class  that  began  their  pre- 
parations for  college  at  the  same  time." 

Dr.  Osborn  united  with  the  Baptist  church,  at  North  Wilna,  on 
the  22d  of  March,  1850,  and  from  that  time  determined  to  devote 
himself  to  the  Christian  ministry.  His  ancestors  had,  as  far  back  as 
the  information  of  the  family  extends,  been  prominent  as  members 
and  officers  of  the  Baptist  church.  The  office  of  deacon  had  beeti 
held  in  an  unbroken  succession,  in  the  direct  line  of  his  ancestors,  for 
a  full  century. 

Several  facts  go  to  show  the  superiority  and  thoroughness  of  Dr. 

Osborn  s  scholarship,  even  at  this  early  period.     During  the  entire 

Sophomore  year  he  had  charge  of  the  education  of  two  sons  of  Dr. 

Adoniram  Judson,  and  for  this  purpose  was  a  member  of  the  family 

of  Mrs.  Emily  C.  Judson,  so  well  known  as  an  authoress.     He  was 

acting  Professor  of  Latin  in  Hamilton  Academy  during  his  junior 

vear,  and  tutor  in  Latin  in  Madison  University  during  his  senior  year, 

412 


REV.     ABRAHAM    C.    OSBORN,    ]).  D. 

The  duties  of  these  positions  were  all  performed  while  maintaining 
the  first  rank  in  his  own  studies.  He  was  graduated  in  August,  1855, 
at  the  age  of  tvventj-four  years,  standing  second  to  none  in  his  class. 
In  October,  1855,  he  took  the  position  of  teacher  of  mathematics  in 
the  High  School  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  where  he  remained 
one  year.  Anxious  to  prosecute  further  his  studies  for  the  ministry, 
he  refused  great  inducements  to  i-emain  longer.  In  October,  1856,  he 
entered  Hamilton  Theological  Seminary,  and  there  devoted  two 
years  to  the  study  of  theology.  He  was  graduated  in  August,  1858, 
with  high  honors,  and  at  the  same  time  received  from  the  University 
the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  He  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from 
Shurtleff  College,  at  Alton,  Illinois,  in  June,  1868. 

It  is  mentioned  of  Dr.  Osborn  that  while  thus  prosecuting  his 
own  studies,  and  earning  for  himself  the  means  to  enable  him  to  do 
so,  he  lent  his  aid,  which  was  continued  for  several  years,  to  a 
younger  brother,  Thomas  W.  Osborn,  who  was  seeking  to  obtain  a 
liberal  education.  In  1868,  this  brother,  having  been  a  successful 
volunteer  artillery  officer  during  the  war,  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the 
United  States  Senate  from  the  State  of  Florida.  In  the  same  manner, 
Dr.  Osborn  aided  a  younger  sister,  now  Mrs.  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Merrill, 
of  Carthage,  New  York,  who  was  educated  at  the  Hamilton  Female 
Seminary. 

On  the  19th  of  September,  1858,  Dr.  Osborn  became  the  pastor 
of  the  Jefferson  Street  Baptist  Church,  in  Louisville,  Ky.  He  was 
ordained  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  October  21st,  1858.  In  a  little 
over  four  years  the  church  doubled  its  membership.  His  popularity 
was  further  demonstrated  by  invitations  to  preach  and  lecture  in 
different  parts  of  the  country.  For  two  years  he  represented  the 
Twelfth  Ward  of  the  City  of  Louisville  in  the  Board  of  Education. 
In  June,  1861,  he  went  to  Europe,  where  he  spent  seven  months  in 
visiting  the  German  universities  and  perfecting  himself  in  the  German 
language. 

Immediately  after  his  return,  on  the  20th  of  December,  1861,  he 
was  married  to  Sarah  E.  Matthew^s,  of  Louisville,  a  lady  of  high 
culture,  elegant  address,  and  a  devoted  Christian.  She  died  August 
20th,  1868,  leaving  an  only  son. 

In  December,  1862,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorship  of  the 
Fourth  Baptist  Church  in  St  Louis,  Missouri,  whither  he  at  once 
removed.  The  church  had  a  total  membership  of  fifty-nine,  but 
when  he  left  it,  six  years  aftei-ward,  for  the  purpose  of  a  second  visit 

413 


REV.    ABRAHAM    C.    OSBORN,    D.  D. 

to  Europe,  there  were  four  hundred  and  fifty  communicants.  "While 
in  St.  Louis  he  interested  himself  much  in  efforts  for  the  poor.  He 
founded  the  Home  Savings  Bank,  and  was  one  of  its  Board  of  Di- 
rectors. In  1867  he  declined  the  Presidency  of  the  New  Hampton 
Literary  and  Theological  Institute  at  Fairfax,  Vermont,  to  which  he 
had  been  unanimously  elected.  In  February,  1869,  he  resigned  the 
charge  of  the  Fourth  Church,  and  proceeded  on  a  rapid,  but  extended 
tour  in  Europe.  In  December,  1869,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the 
Tabernacle  Baptist  Church  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained 
until  about  the  close  of  1873.  He  next  entered  upon  his  present 
pastorship  at  the  South  Baptist  Church  in  West  Twenty-fifth  street, 
New  York  City,  where  he  is  pursuing  the  same  successful  work 
which  has  characterized  him  in  other  places. 

He  has  always  been  a  devoted  and  efficient  laborer  in  the  Sabbath 
Schools,  connected  with  his  various  churches.  In  St.  Louis,  he 
raised  a  school  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  scholars  to  two  thousand 
enrolled  membei's,  with  one  thousand  one  hundred  in  avei-age  atten- 
dance, his  own  Bible  class  numbering  over  one  hundred. 

Dr.  Osborn  has  an  intellectual  face,  and  most  agreeable  manners. 
In  private  and  social  life  he  is  greatly  admired.  He  is  not  only  ready 
in  the  use  of  the  learned  languages — the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew — 
but  speaks  the  German,  and  reads  most  of  the  languages  of  modern 
Europe.  "  In  his  sermons,"'  says  a  well-informed  writer,  "and  in  all 
his  public  efforts,  Dr.  Osborn  shows  the  thorough  preparation  of  the 
scholar  and  remarkable  familiarity  with  whatever  subject  he  may 
treat,  never  permitting  himself  to  attempt  a  subject  with  which  he 
has  not  previously  familiarized  himself.  His  address  is  easy,  and  his 
style  of  delivery  fluent.  His  most  noticeable  characteristic  as  a 
speaker  is  the  unusual  distinctness  with  which  each  word  and  syllable 
is  uttered — so  distinctly,  indeed,  that  to  the  attentive  listener  no 
syllable  of  an  entire  discourse  is  lost.  He  also  appears  unwilling  to 
brook  any  difference  of  opinion  from  his  hearers.  He  speaks  as  if  to 
command  conviction  and  assent,  and  vet  he  is  not  offensively  dog- 
matic. His  entire  self-reliance  is  always  noticeable.  His  mode  of 
thought  is  of  the  full  and  comprehensive  order.  He  seizes  his  theme 
in  its  fullness,  and  comprehends  the  subject  as  a  whole;  and  devel- 
ops and  delineates  until  the  whole  matter  is  laid  before  his  hearers, 
like  a  finely  engraved  map  or  a  pictura" 

^14 


REV.  SAMUEL  OSGOOD,  D.  D., 

IL.A.TE    PA.STOTl    OF    TME    CHURCH     OF    THE 

m:essia.h:,  jvew   Yonit. 


EV.  DR.  SAMUEL  OSGOOD  was  born  in  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  August  30th,  1812.  He  was  graduated  at  Har- 
vard College  in  1832,  and  at  Cambridge  Divinity  School 
in  1835.  Two  years  were  occupied  in  traveling  and 
preaching,  wlien,  in  1837,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
Unitarian  church  in  Nashua,  N.  H.  In  1841  he  was  called  to 
Providence,  R  I. ;  and  in  1849  to  the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  New 
York,  where  he  officiated,  with  great  acceptability  and  success,  for 
about  twenty  years.  Difficulties  in  the  congregation,  arising  from 
the  building  of  a  costly  edifice  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  city, 
finally  led  to  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Osgood.  He  went  to  Europe, 
and  soon  after  his  return  took  orders  in  the  Episcopal  church.  He 
received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Harvard,  in  1857.  His  publica- 
tions are  numerous.  In  1839  and  1842  he  published  translations 
from  Olshausen  and  De  Wilt — "The  History  of  Passion,"  and  "  Hu- 
man Life;''  in  1851,  "Studies  in  Christian  Biography;"  in  1854, 
"  The  Hearthstone  "  and  "  God  with  Men  ;"  in  1855,  "  Milestones  in 
our  Life  Journey  ;"  and  in  1860,  "  Student  Life."  During  1836  and 
'37  he  was  editor  of  the  Western  Messenger,  published  in  Louisville, 
and  fi*ora  1850  to  '54  of  the  Christian,  inquirer,  issued  in  New  York. 
He  has  also  written  largely  in  the  reviews  and  monthly  magazines, 
and  printed  many  sermons,  orations,  and  speeches.  His  discourse  at 
the  Meadville  Theological  School,  on  "  The  Coming  Church  and  its 
Clergy,"  in  1850,  and  his  oration  before  the  alumni  of  Harvard,  at 
President  Felton's  inauguration,  in  1860,  are  the  most  noted.  He  is 
the  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and 
is  greatly  interested  in  all  educational  and  literary  interests. 

Dr.  Osgood  is  about  the  average  height,  and  well-proportioned ; 
his  complexion  is  inclined  to  be  sallow,  and  the  whiskers,  which  he 
wears  around  his  whole  face,  are  tinged  with  gray.  His  head  is  in- 
tellectual, and  his  countenance  betokens  kindness  and  amiability. 

415 


REV.     SAMUEL     OSGOOD.     D.  D. 

He  IS  noted  for  his  gentlemanly  bearing,  mildness  of  manners,  and 
conscientious  life.  Study  is  his  greatest  delight,  and  his  classical 
and  literary  attainments  are  of  a  high  order.  His  writings  are  care- 
fully composed,  fertile  of  imagination,  and  sometimes  florid  in  lan- 
guage. He  is  a  fluent  speaker,  and  argumentative ;  but  there  is  no 
dryness — on  the  contrary,  a  glowing  eloquence.  He  is  of  a  poetic 
nature,  has  a  strong  sense  of  the  beautiful,  and  is  passionately  fond 
of  music,  particularly  that  of  a  sacred  character;  and  these  and 
kindred  elements  are  governing  influences  in  molding  his  thoughts 
and  directing  his  habits.  His  sermons  are  characterized  by  exceed- 
ing clearness  of  meaning,  interesting  historical  details,  if  the  subject 
admits  of  it,  and  an  ardent  fancy.  Doctrine,  metaphysical  theories, 
moral  questions,  and  to  some  extent  political  topics,  all  receive  his 
attention,  and  are  discussed  in  a  manner  wliicli  shows  diligent  re- 
search, depth  of  thought,  and  sincere  conviction.  He  argues  calmly 
but  forcibly,  and  evidently  relies  rather  upon  the  potency  of  his 
logic  than  any  charm  of  his  eloquence.  Although  an  orator,  and  the 
possessor  of  a  voice  which  is  as  soft  and  sweetly  winning  as  that  of  a 
woman,  still  he  prefers  to  encounter  the  intelligence  of  the  hearer, 
where  other  men  appeal  to  the  feelings.  He  wants  his  great  truths'- 
comprehended  and  accepted,  and  counts  it  but  poor  success  to  gain 
the  melting  eye  alone.  Thus  he  piles  fact  upon  fact,  fortifies  witli 
the  treasures  of  his  research,  and  bombards  with  logic  which  comes 
forth  gilded  by  the  touch  of  imagination;  You  think  he  is  leading 
you  with  a  thread  of  silk,  but  before  he  closes  you  find  it  is  an  iron 
chain. 

Dr.  Osgood  is  a  very  practical  theologian.  He  considers  that 
religion  must  be  adapted  to  the  nature  of  man,  as  well  as  that  nature 
subjected  to  its  government.  Instead  of  obliging  the  weary  pilgrim 
to  stumble  among  stones  and  grow  faint  in  deserts,  he  would  tempt 
his  advance  by  tlie  murmurings  of  music  and  the  sight  of  flowering 
fields.  A  genial,  common-sense,  practical  church  life  is,  in  the 
opinion  of  Dr.  Osgood,  the  best  means  of  making  converts.  His 
style  of  oratory  is  subdued,  but  he  is  forcible  and  sincere  throughout 
He  fixes  the  attention  in  the  beginning,  and  moves  along  in  a  man- 
ner so  scholarly,  graphic,  poetic,  and  eloquent,  that  no  word  is  al- 
lowed to  be  lost.  His  voice  is  always  musical,  and  in  some  passages 
strikingly  mellow  and  tender.  When  he  closes,  you  feel  as  at  those 
times  when  interrupted  in  some  pleasant  reading,  or  when  the  strains 

of  music  die  away  which  have  lulled  you  into  waking  dreams. 

A16 


IIEY.  JOn^  A.  PADDOCK, 


BROOIvLYN. 


EY.  JOHN  A.  PADDOCK  was  boi-D  at  Norwich,  Cod- 
necticut,  January  19th,  1825.  He  was  graduated  at 
Trinity  College,  Hartford,  in  1845,  and  at  the  Espiscopal 
General  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  in  1849. 
Taking  orders  the  same  year,  he  was  called  to  Christ  Church, 
Stratford,  Conn.,  where  he  remained  over  five  years.  In  1855 
he  became  rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Brooklyn,  then  located  on 
the  corner  of  Atlantic  and  Bond  streets.  During  the  following  year 
the  congregation  commenced  the  erection  of  a  new  church  edifice  in 
State  street,  near  Bond,  which  was  opened  for  divine  service  January 
6th,  1857. 

This  structure  was  planned  by  the  late  Frank  Mills,  and  is  one 
of  the  most  tasteful  among  the  many  fine  edifices  of  the  kind  in  the 
City  of  Churches.  It  consists  of  nave  and  chancel,  with  north  and 
south  aisles  and  vestibule.  The  nave  is  eighty -five  feet  by  fifty-eight, 
and  there  is  seating  room  for  eight  hundred  persons.  The  roof  rests 
on  iron  arches,  the  pillars  are  pine,  the  panels  of  the  ceiling  are 
plastered,  and  the  seats  and  furniture  are  of  chestnut.  The  south 
front  has  two  turrets,  one  on  either  side  of  the  nave  gable.  Between 
the  turrets  is  a  vestibule  and  staiiivay,  projecting  some  few  feet  in 
front  in  the  main  wall.  The  doorway  projects  in  fi-ont  of  the  vestibule 
screen,  and  with  its  rich  gabled  pediment,  forms  a  striking  feature  of 
the  work,  A  beautiful  blue  granite  and  the  Caen  stone  are  used  in 
the  exterior  walls.  The  cost  of  the  ground  and  edifice  was  forty 
thousand  dollars. 

In  1871  the  prosperity  of  the  coiigregation  led  to  a  second  fine 
improvement.  This  was  the  erection  of  a  Sunday  School  building 
on  lots  adjoining  the  church,  at  an  outlay  of  about  forty-five  thousand 
dollars.     The  structure  is  in  keeping  with  the  architecture  of  the 

417 


REV.     JOHN     A.      PADDOCK. 

cliurcli,  and  the  interior  is  gi'catly  admired  for  its  beauty,  conveuienee, 
and  adaptation  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  designed. 

The  congregation  is  composed  of  about  two  hundred  fiimihes  and 
five  hundred  communicants.  More  than  five  hundred  children  are 
under  instruction  in  the  Sunday  School.  A  Mission  Sunday  School 
is  maintained  in  Wyckoflf  street. 

Mr,  Paddock  is  slightly  under  the  medium  height,  and  equally 
proportioned.  He  has  a  round  head  of  the  average  size,  with  an  in- 
telligent face  of  most  amiable  and  modest  expression.  As  he  walks 
along  the  street  he  has  a  habit  of  looking  downward,  and  at  all  times 
exhibits  a  retiring  air.  He  dresses  in  a  clerical  garb,  and  his  whole 
manner  is  that  of  humility  and  propriety.  He  is  a  man  of  extensive 
learning,  of  rare  judgment  in  the  pastoral  work,  and  greatly  valued 
throughout  the  church  for  both  his  ability  and  success.  His  sermons 
are  fine  specimens  of  clear,  common  sense  diction,  and  are  delivered 
with  marked  sincerity  of  personal  feeling. 

Mr.  Paddock  is  well  known  in  his  parish.  He  is  very  attentive 
to  all  his  duties,  and  makes  himself  personally  familiar  with  his  own 
people.  His  life  is  so  meritorious,  and  his  manners  so  agreeable,  that 
he  is  greatly  beloved.  The  poor  and  afflicted  find  in  him  a  constant 
visitor  and  sympathizing  friend.  He  loves  the  lowly  walks  and  the 
places  where  he  can  dispense  the  comforts  of  his  religion.  He  is  not 
a  man  who  thinks  of  dignity  or  discomfort,  but  ever  goes  forth  in  all 
humbleness,  and  in  total  disregard  of  every  thing  save  dutj^  From 
these  labors,  which  are  best  known  and  appreciated  by  his  own  con- 
gregation, he  has  drawn  about  him  the  considerable  body  of  wor- 
shipers at  St  Peter's.  They  work  together  harmoniously  and  suc- 
cessfully, and  the  parish,  after  being  in  a  feeble  condition  for  many 
years,  is  now  one  of  the  most  flourishing  in  Brooklyn.  The  district 
has  a  growing  population  of  well-to-do  and  intelligent  people. 

There  can  be  nothing  but  commendation  of  Mr.  Paddock  in  re- 
garding him  as  a  diligent,  conscientious  worker  in  the  cause  of  his 
faith.  His  meekness  of  disposition  adds  to  the  beauty  of  a  censure- 
less  life,  and  at  the  snme  time  makes  even  more  conspicuous  his 
Christian  uprightness.  No  man  is  more  highly  valued  for  talent  and 
experience  by  his  brethren  of  the  ministry  in  all  denominations. 
Faithful  in  his  work,  he  is  not  without  earthly  fame,  nor  can  he  be 
without  the  heavenly  reward       ^jg 


RIGHT  KEY.  BENJAxMIN  H.  PADDOCK,  D.  D., 

ISrSHOr     OF     3IA.©©A-CHUSETTS  ;    I^A.TE      HECTOR 
OF      GKA.CE  EP»ISCOr»A.E    CHUKCH,   BROOBLLYN. 


IGHT  EEV.  DR  BENJAMIN  H.  PADDOCK,  D.  D., 

was  born  at  Norwich,  Connecticut,  February  29th,  1828. 
He  is  a  younger  brother  of  the  Eev.  John  A.  Paddock, 
rector  of  St.  Peter's  Episcopal  church,  Brooklyn.  He  was 
graduated  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  August, 
1848.  After  serving  for  one  year  as  an  assistant  teacher  at  the 
Connecticut  Episcopal  Academ}-,  Cheshire,  he  entered  the  general 
Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  in  September,  1849,  and  was  gi-ad- 
uated  in  June,  1852.  He  was  ordained  deacon  on  St.  Peter's  day, 
June  29th,  1852,  at  Christ  church,  Stratford,  Connecticut,  by  Bishop 
Brownell,  and  priest  in  September,  1853,  in  Trinity  church,  Norwich, 
by  Bishop  "Williams.  Most  of  his  deaconate  was  spent  as  assistant 
to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lot  Jones,  at  Epiphanj^  church,  New  York  city.  In 
April,  1853,  he  accepted  charge  ot  St.  Luke's  chm*ch,  Portland,  Maine, 
but  withdrew,  from  ill-health  after  three  months,  and  became  rector 
of  Trinity  church,  Norwich,  in  August,  1853.  He  became  rector  of 
Christ  church,  Detroit,  Michigan,  in  February,  1860,  where  he  re- 
mained until  he  accepted  the  rectorship  of  Grace  church,  Brooklyn 
Heights,  in  May,  1869. 

While  still  in  this  rectorship,  on  the  15th  of  May,  1873,  Dr.  Pad- 
dock was  elected  Bishop  of  Massachusetts.  He  accepted  the  office 
in  a  letter,  dated  June  -Ith,  1873,  in  which  he  remarks  : — 

"  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  great  honor  conferred  upon  me,  nor  ungrateful  for  the 
confidence  reposed  in  me  by  this  election.  I  have  not  sought,  but  I  dare  not  decline 
it ;  and  yet,  as  I  recall  the  learning,  wisdom,  zeal,  and  saintliness  which  have 
adorned  the  Episcopate  of  your  historic  diocese,  I  cannot  help  standing  humbled 
and  oppressed  by  a  sense  of  insufficiency  and  unworthiness.  I  can  bring  to  such 
an  honored  succession  little  more  than  an  unfeigned  longing  and  purpose  to  con- 
secrate all  that  is  within  me,  '  to  the  edifying  of  Christ's  church,  and  to  the  honor, 
praise,  and  glory  of  His  name.'  But  it  cheers  me  to  think  that  if  loving  thoughts 
and  prayers  and  appreciation  on  the  part  of  a  chief  pastor,  for  all  who  are  sLi-iving 

419 


RIGHT  REV.  BENJAMIN  H .   PADDOCK,  D.  D. 

together  for  the  faith  of  the  gosi^el  in  the  church's  ways  and  works,  may  oulybe  met 
by  generous  love  and  confidence  and  prayerful  co-operation,  then,  even  thus,  with- 
out other  and  greater  conditions  of  success,  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Lord  and  giver  of 
life,  can  mightily  work  through  His  ministry  and  people,  and  the  church  can 
grow  lip  unto  Christ,  who  is  the  Head  in  all  things,  and  can  make  glorious  increase 
of  the  body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love." 

The  consecration  of  the  nev.'-  Bisliop  took  place  at  Grace  church, 
Brooklyn,  on  Wednesday,  September  17th,  1873. 

Bishop  Paddock  is  of  the  average  height,  sparelj'  made  and  erect 
He  has  light  complexion,  hair,  and  eyes.  The  face  is  long,  with 
a  full,  high  brow,  and  has  an  expression  of  composure  and  amiabil 
ity.  His  manners  are  quiet  and  courteous.  Judging  him  by  cas- 
ual observation,  and  knowing  him  by  long  acquaintance  is  to  find 
his  disposition  and  talents  altogether  the  same.  There  is  no  change, 
no  policy,  and  no  affectation  about  either  his  conduct  or  speech.  He 
shows  what  order  of  person  he  is  on  the  instant ;  and  he  is  the  same 
at  all  other  times.  If  you  are  the  stranger  or  slight  acquaintance, 
he  talks  with  you  in  that  sincere,  friendly  way,  which  puts  botli  on  the 
most  agreeable  footing  at  once.  And  if  you  are  the  old  and  valued 
friend,  why  it  is  the  same  frank,  genial  grasp  of  the  hand,  and  earn- 
est welcome  of  the  heart,  which  have  delighted  you  from  the  begin- 
ning. And  all  this  is  most  natural  in  speech  and  action,  evidently 
springing  simply  from  the  true  habit  and  motives  of  the  man.  No 
personal  character  can  be  more  beautiful,  more  admired,  or  m.ore  in- 
fluential. 

As  a  preacher,  Bishop  Paddock  is  one  who  always  apjDcars  in  the  sa- 
cred desk  after  scholarly  and  prayerful  preparation.  He  feels  his  great 
responsibility,  and  he  makes  this  evident  to  every  hearer.  Hence, 
his  solemnly  uttered  words  have  full  weight,  and  his  occasional  out- 
bursts of  eloquent  and  pathetic  appeal  are  not  less  effective.  Writ- 
ing with  strength  and  clearness,  particularly  the  doctrined  subjects, 
he  speaks  with  tones  and  gestures,  which  add  force  to  his  language. 
No  person  can  fail  to  understand  him,  and  few  can  long  remain  indif- 
ferent to  his  calls  to  grace.  In  all  the  duties  of  the  rector  he  is  con- 
scientious, faithful,  and  experienced.  Too  modest  and  devout  to  be  a 
mere  seeker  for  fame,  still  he  is  winning  it  by  the  force  of  works 
which  cannot  go  unobserved. 

420 


REV.  ALFRED   H.  PARIRIDGE, 

RECTOR    OF    CHRIST  CHURCH,   I5RO)OI5:iL.Y]V,  (E.  1>.) 


EY.  ALFRED    H.  PARTRIDGE  was  born  at  Hatfield, 
Massachusetts,  December  14tb,  1811.     His  early  academic 
studies  were  at  Hadley,  in  the  same  State.     Having  taken 
,,  ,-^-  a  course  of  private  instruction  in  tbe  collegiate  brandies. 

"&  he  entered  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Seminary,  New 
*^  York,  where  he  was  graduated,  in  June,  1888.  He  was  made 
deacon  at  St.  Mark's  Church,  New  York,  by  Bishop  Onderdonk, 
July  1st,  1838,  and  priest  at  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Bedford,  West- 
chester county,  by  the  same  Bishop  July  20th,  1839.  He  became 
assistant  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Nichols  at  St.  Matthew's  Church,  but 
after  one  year  was  himself  called  to  the  rectorship,  in  which  he  re- 
mained during  a  period  of  seventeen  years.  The  increase  of  the  Epis- 
copalians and  the  erection  of  new  churches  of  the  denomination  in 
that  section  of  Westchester  county  is  largely  due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Partridge.  He  was  instrumental  in  the  organization  of  St,  Luke's 
Church,  at  Somers ;  St.  Mary's,  at  North  Castle  ;  St.  John's,  at  Lewis 
borough;  and  St.  Mark's  at  Katonah,  all  of  which  are  flourishing 
churches  at  this  time.  In  Muy,  1855,  he  commenced  the  duties  of 
his  present  rectorship  at  Christ  Church,  in  the  Eastern  District  of 
Brooklyn,  which  he  has  now  discharged  for  more  than  eighteen  years. 
This  parish  was  organized  in  18-16,  and  grew  out  of  St,  Mark's 
parish.  The  Rev.  Charles  Reynolds  was  the  first  rector,  but  up  to 
tlie  time  when  Mr.  Partridge  came  the  parish  was  small  and  feeble. 
Worship  was  held  in  a  small  wooden  building  on  South  sixth  street, 
which  was  subsequently  sold  for  one  hundred  dollars.  Mr.  Partridge 
at  once  threw  his  accustomed  energy  into  his  work,  and  the  parish 
has  now  grown  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  in  Brooklyn.  Just 
at  the  opening  of  the  war,  the  erection  of  a  splendid  stone  church 
edifice  was  undertaken  on  a  very  eligible  site  on  Bedford  avenue, 
donated  by  the  Boerum  family.  This  structure  was  opened  on  the 
first  Sunday  before  Chi-istraas,  1863,  and  cost  about  fifty  thousand 

421 


REV.     ALFRED     H.     PARTRIDGE. 

dollars.  It  is  a  very  superior  building,  being  large,  and  constracted 
in  the  best  manner,  and  its  fittings  and  adornment  are  of  the  most 
costly,  elaborate,  and  tasteful  character.  An  elegant  dwelling  in 
Boss  street  has  been  purchased  for  a  rectory. 

Mr.  Partridge  is  about  the  medium  heiglit,  equally  proportioned, 
and  active  in  his  movements.  His  head  is  round,  with  regular  feat- 
ures, and  he  has  light  hair  and  whiskers.  His  face  shows  intelligence 
and  shrewdness  of  observation,  and  his  manners  exhibit  impulsiveness 
and  energy.  As  a  business  man  he  would  have  made  a  mark  in  any 
occupation,  for  he  has  all  the  judgment,  tact,  and  enterprise  which  are 
necessary  to  success  in  worldly  afi'airs.  In  the  building  up  of  his 
parish,  and  in  carrying  forward  their  recent  operations  in  constructing 
a  new  church,  he  has  displayed  an  energy,  an  adaptation  of  means  to 
ends,  a  spirit  to  overcome  obstacles,  and  a  busmess  capacity,  which 
have  been  quite  omnipotent  in  their  way. 

Had  Mr.  Partridge  been  less  of  a  practical  business  man,  it  is 
probable  that  his  parish  would  not  now  have  been  in  existence. 
When  he  took  hold  of  it,  there  were  not  only  long  unpaid  debts  but 
no  means  to  discharge  them.  The  whole  work  of  the  Lord  was  about 
to  come  to  a  stand-still  simply  for  the  want  of  business  talents  and 
energy  to  raise  money  and  elevate  a  defaulting  and  bankrupt  church 
into  an  honest  and  thriving  parish.  Praying  and  waiting,  without 
something  more,  would  not  do.  It  required  the  same  kind  of  striving 
which  hard  run  merchants  make  every  day,  and  that  kind  of  practical 
calculation  and  exertion  whicli  spring  from  the  business  mind. 

Look  at  the  results.  The  old  tottering  church  building  has  passed 
away,  and  a  magnificent  structure  has  appeared,  and  the  scene  ot 
the  humble,  impoverished  congregation  has  merged  into  the  great 
throng  of  influential  people  who  now  compose  the  parish.  A  super- 
ficial, inexperienced  rector  would  have  been  the  means  of  allowing 
the  light  of  this  enterprise  to  go  out  forever ;  but  the  nerve  and  busi- 
ness capacity  of  Mr.  Partridge  has  fanned  it  into  a  blaze  of  prosperity 
which  has  few  parallels  in  church  history. 

His  qualifications  for  the  spiritual  work  are  not  less  conspicuous. 
He  is  polite  and  genial  in  his  manners,  and  has  excellent  conversa- 
tional powers.  In  both  public  and  private  life  he  has  characteristics 
which  render  liini  extremely  popular  with  all  persons.  He  is  ad- 
mired and  beloved  for  his  consistent,  pure  life,  for  his  spirit  of  self 
sacrifice,  and  for  his  bold,  earnest  efforts  in  the  line  of  his  duty. 

422 


REV.  WILLIAM  M.  PAXTO^,  I).  D., 

I»A.©TOrfc        OF        THE       FIRST        I»RESIJYTETIIA.]V 
C'lIXJRCM,     TVE>V     YOKIS:. 


EV.  DR.  WILLIAM  M.  PAXTON  was  born  in  Adams 
county,  near  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  June  7tli,  1824. 
The  locality  now  made  immortal  by  one  of  the  great 
s;^^.  martial  contests  of  the  late  war,  was  the  familiar  scene  of 
his  youthful  recreations.  Ue  was  graduated  at  Pennsylvania 
College  in  1843,  and  afterward  studied  law  with  Judge  George 
Chambers,  of  Chambersburg,  and  Alexander  Stephenson,  of  Gettys- 
burg. On  the  eve  of  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  was  converted, 
and,  having  united  with  the  church,  he  determined  to  study  for  the 
ministry.  He  entered  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  and  graduated 
in  1848.  In  the  spring  of  the  previous  year  he  had  been  licensed 
as  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Carlisle,  and  in  the  fall  of  1848  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Greencastle,  Franklin  county, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained  two  years.  In  the  fall  of  1850  he 
was  called  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pittsburg,  and  was 
installed  early  in  January,  1851.  This  church  was  under  the  pastoral 
care  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Herron,  one  of  the  most  learned 
and  distinguished  clergyman  of  the  west,  for  the  long  period  of  thirty- 
nine  years.  Dr.  Herron  resigned  his  pastorship  in  December,  1850, 
and  Dr.  Paxton  was  called  as  his  successor.  During  the  subsequent 
ten  years  up  to  the  death  of  Dr.  Herron,  the  closest  relations  existed 
between  the  officiating  and  retired  pastors  as  ministers,  Christians, 
and  friends,  each  giving  evidence  of  the  most  exalted  regard  for  the 
other.  Dr.  Paxton  thus  speaks  of  his  intimate  and  affectionate 
association  with  Dr.  Herron  :  "  I  never  met  a  frown  from  his  brow  ; 
never  heard  an  unkind  word  from  his  lips;  never  felt  a  single  jar  in 
our  intercourse ;  never  was  a  moment  trammeled  or  embarrassed  in 
my  personal  or  ministerial  actions  by  anything  that  he  said.     On  the 

other  hand,  he  was  a  friend,  who  stood  by  me  in  every  extremity;  a 

423 


EEV.      WILLIAM     M.     PAXTON",     D.  D. 

counsellor,  ever  ready  with  the  wisdom  of  age  and  experience ;  a 
comforter,  full  of  tenderest  sympathy ;  a  defender,  who  would  stand 
forth  and  receive  reproach  himself  rather  than  it  should  fall  upon 
me." 

Dr.  Paxton  remained  with  the  First  Church  of  Pittsburg  for 
fifteen  years,  when  he  was  called  to  a  field  equally  important  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  In  the  spring  of  1865,  Eev.  Dr.  William  W. 
Phillips,  for  many  years  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
New  York  city,  departed  this  life,  and  Dr.  Paxton  was  invited  to 
assume  jDastoral  relations  with  this  influential  and  wealthy  congrega- 
tion.    Having  accepted  the  call,  lie  was  installed  in  January,  1866. 

We  draw  from  a  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Phillips,  at  the  opening 
of  the  new  church  of  the  First  Congregation  in  Fifth  Avenue,  the 
following  interesting  historical  details  regarding  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  New  York. 

' '  The  first  movement  which  led  to  the  organization  of  a  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion in  New  York  was  in  January,  1707.  Prior  to  that  period  a  fev,'  Presbyterians 
had  assembled  for  worship  in  a  private  house,  being  without  a  minister.  Two  min- 
isters of  the  faith,  named  Francis  McKemmie  and  John  Hampton,  from  the  eastern 
Bhore  of  Maryland,  now  visited  New  York  on  their  way  to  Boston,  and  application 
was  made  to  the  Consistory  of  the  Dutch  Church  for  the  use  of  their  place  of  wor- 
ship, that  these  clergymen  migh;  jireach.  Permission  was  given  by  the  Consistory, 
but  that  of  Lord  Cornbury,  the  governor  of  the  province,  was  also  requisite,  and  it 
was  refused.  Mr.  McKemmie,  however,  preached  in  a  private  house  in  Pearl  street, 
and  baptized  a  child.  The  performance  of  these  ministrations,  without  a  license 
from  the  governor,  resulted  in  the  arrest  of  both  Mr.  McKemmie  and  his  companion, 
who  Y,-cre  brought  before  his  lordship,  and  by  his  order  thrown  into  prison.  Aft'^r 
two  mont'  s  of  confinement  they  were  brought  before  the  chief  juBtice  by  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  and  Mr.  Hampton,  not  having  preached,  was  discharged,  and  Mr. 
McKemmie  admitted  to  bail.  The  latter  returned  from  Virginia  in  June,  to  answer 
his  prosecution  before  a  civil  court,  where  he  was  acquitt  d  by  a  jury,  but  was  ob- 
liged to  pay  costs  to  the  amount  of  £83,  7s.  6d.  In  1717  John  Nichcll,  Patrick 
McKnight,  Gilbert  Livingston,  and  Thomas  Smith,  with  a  few  other,  organized  a 
congregation,  and  called  as  their  minister  the  Eev.  James  Anderson,  a  native  of 
Scotland,  but  at  the  time  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  Worship 
was  held  in  the  City  Hall,  at  the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Wall  streets,  the  use  of  which 
was  granted  by  the  corporation  of  the  city.  In  1718  a  lot  was  purchased  in  Wall 
street,  and  in  the  following  year  a  church  edifice  was  erected.  Momy  was  collected 
in  Connccticiit  and  in  Scotland  for  the  new  enterprise.  In  1720,  application  was 
made  for  a  charter,  the  granting  of  which  was  successfully  opposed  by  the  Vestry 
of  Trinity  Church,  at  this  time  and  at  other  periods,  for  more  than  half  a  century. 
Having  no  prospect  of  obtaining  a  charter  by  which  they  might  enjoy,  as  an  incor- 
porate body,  a  right  to  their  church  and  cemetery,  and  alarmed  by  what  had  occurred 
at  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  where  the  property  of  the  Presbyterians  had  been  actually 
taken  from  them  by  the  Episcopalians,  they  invested  the  fee  of  their  church  and 
ground  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.     Subsequent  to  the 

424 


REV.     WILLIAM     M.      PAXTON,     D.  D. 

revolution  the  property  was  reconveyed  to  tlio  trustees  of  the  church.  The  church 
•was  enlarged  in  1748.  The  following  inscription  was  placed  in  the  wall  over  the 
magistrate's  pew:  'Under  the  auspices  of  George  11. ,  King  of  Great  Britain, 
Patron  of  the  Church,  and  Defender  of  the  Faith.'  Kev.  David  Bostwick  was  called 
to  the  church  in  1756,  and  early  in  his  ministry  a  portion  of  the  members  seceded 
and  formed  the  First  Associate  Eeformed  Church  in  Cedar  street,  now  the  Scotch 
Presbyteiian  Church  in  Grand  street.  In  1765  the  Eev.  John  Rodgers  was  installed, 
when  the  church  was  revived,  prospered,  and  gi-eatly  increased.  A  lot  was  obtained 
from  the  corporation  on  the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Beekman  streets,  on  wliich  a  new 
building  T\'as  erected,  and  dedicated  in  January,  1768. 

' '  Most  of  the  members  of  the  First  Church  and  their  ministers  went  into  exile 
during  the  Eevolution.  On  their  return,  they  found  their  churches  had  been  dese- 
crated and  left  in  an  injured  and  ruinous  state.  The  parsonage  house  belonging  to 
the  church  had  been  burned.  The  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  now  unsolicited, 
offered  the  Presbyterians  the  use  of  St.  Paul's  and  St.  George's  Churches  until  their 
own  might  be  repaired.  At  a  later  period,  a  lot  of  ground  on  Robinson  street  was 
donated  for  the  use  of  the  Presbyterian  senior  minister.  In  fact,  the  EjiiscoiDalians 
in  a  minority,  as  they  were  after  the  war,  were  a  very  different  people  than  when  in  a 
majority.  The  Brick  Church  was  re-opened  in  June,  1784,  and  the  church  in  WaU 
street  in  the  following  year.  In  1798,  a  third  Presbyterian  Church  was  opened  in 
Eutger  street ;  in  later  daj's  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  Krebs.  In  1807.  a  colony  from 
the  Wall  street  church  and  from  the  Brick  Church,  with  others  who  were  unable  to 
obtain  pews  in  either,  purchased  ground  and  built  the  Cedar  street  church.  The 
churches  were  separated  and  became  independent  of  each  other  in  1809,  each  having 
their  own  pastor,  except  that  Dr.  Rogers  continued  his  pastoral  relations  to  the  First 
and  Brick  Churches.  During  1809-10,  the  Wall  street  church  was  rebuilt ;  the  old 
materials  being  used  for  building  another  church  in  Spring  street  in  part.  A  sep- 
aration of  the  Wall  street  and  Brick  Churches  was  effected  by  mutual  consent 
Dr.  Rogers  died  in  May,  1811,  leaving  Dr.  Miller,  who  became  a  colleague  in  1792, 
sole  pastor,  which  he  retained  until  1813,  when  he  became  one  of  the  professors  at 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  In  1815,  Rev.  Philip  M.  Whelpley  accepted  a 
call  to  the  church,  but  was  removed  by  death,  in  July,  1824.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Dr.  Phillips,  in  January,  1826.  In  1834,  the  church  was  partially  destroyed  by  fire, 
but  was  immediately  rebuilt  and  re-opened  in  1835.  In  May,  1844,  the  building 
was  vacated  and  removed  to  Jersey  City,  where  it  is  used  for  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  originally  built.  The  corner-stone  of  a  new  edifice,  to  be  erected  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Fifth  avenue  and  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  streets,  was  laid  in  September  of  the 
same  year,  and  the  first  service  was  held  January  lltb,  1846.  The  church  is 
constructed  of  brown  free-stone,  and  is  one  of  the  most  imposing  in  New  York,  and 
the  congregation  is  among  the  most  wealthy." 

The  statistics  of  the  Presbyterian  denomination  in  the  United 
States  for  1872,  show  that  its  number  of  churches  is  4,730 ;  minis- 
ters, 4,441 ;  communicants,  468,164,  and  Sunday  school  members, 
485,762,  and  their  contributions  during  the  year  amount  to 
$10,086,526,  being  an  increase  of  $1,003,117  on  those  of  the  previous 
year. 

In  1860  Dr.  Paxton  was  called  to  a  chair  of  theology  in  the 
Western  Theological  Seminary  at  Alleghany  City,  which   he  still 

425 


REV.     WILLIAM     M.     PAXTON,     D.  D. 

holds,  in  addition  to  his  pastoral  duties.  He  received  his  degree 
of  D.  D.  from  Jefferson  College  in  1853.  He  has  published  a 
"Memorial  of  Eev.  Francis  Herron,  D.  D."  containing  two  sermons? 
and  various  other  occasional  sermons.  We  take  the  following  ex- 
tract from  one  of  the  memorial  sermons : 

"  Elijah,  the  prophet  father,  and  Elisha,  the  prophet  son,  were  bound  together 
by  uo  ordinary  ties  of  endearment.  "When  it  became  manifest  to  the  old  prophet 
that  he  must  ere  long  retire  from  his  sacred  office,  and  it  was  indicated  that  Elisha 
should  fill  his  vacant  place,  Elijah  soiight  him,  and,  throwing  his  mantle  upon  him, 
indicated  and  installed  him  as  his  successor.  Accordingly,  Elisha  bade  farewell  to 
the  home  of  his  youth,  and  crossed  the  mountains  of  Gilead  to  take  part  in  the 
ministry  of  the  old  prophet,  and  to  comfort  and  cheer  him  with  the  ready  offices  of 
kindness  and  affection.  From  that  time  they  lived  and  labored  together  in  the  in- 
timacy of  a  harmonious  fellowship  and  reciprocated  attachment.  It  was  no  ordinary 
friendship  that  bound  them  to  each  other.  They  had  one  interest,  one  aim,  one 
motive,  one  sphere  of  blessed,  holy,  consecrated  action ;  but  deeper  than  this  was 
the  affinity  of  congenial  temperament,  the  unity  of  kindred  sympathies,  the  harmo- 
ny of  feelings  strung  to  the  same  key,  and,  deeper  still,  the  affiance  of  grace,  the 
common  experience  of  the  love  of  God,  the  endearing  intimacy  of  spiritual  fellow- 
ship and  communion  which  bound  them  together  heart  and  soul,  wedding  youth 
and  age  with  a  bond  of  perfectness. 

"The  life  of  Elijah  was  spared  longer  than  he  seemed  first  to  anticipate.  It  was 
doubtless  so  ordered  in  mercy  to  Elisha.  He  needed  the  experience  of  age  to  direct 
him,  and  the  Vv^isdom  and  instructions  of  the  old  prophet  to  prepare  and  mature 
him  for  his  future  responsibilities.  For  a  period  of  about  ten  years  this  happy  asso- 
ciation and  co-operation  iu  the  work  of  God  continued  ;  but  now  at  last  the  time 
arrived  when  they  must  part,  Elrah  to  ascend  into  glory,  and  Elisha  to  bear  the 
responsibilities  of  the  sacred  office  alone. 

"When  it  became  known  in  the  school  of  the  prophets  at  Jericho  that  Elijah 
was  about  to  finish  his  earthly  career,  it  awakened  such  a  painful  interest  among  the 
young  men  in  training  there  for  the  work  of  God,  that  a  band  of  fifty  followed  after 
the  two  prophets  as  they  took  their  course  toward  the  Jordan,  and,  ascending  an 
eminence  that  overlooked  the  valley,  witnessed  the  sublime  scene  that  followed. 
The  Jordan  parts  before  the  stroke  of  Elijah's  mantle,  and  now  they  stand  upon  the 
opposite  shore — the  prophet  father  and  the  prophet  son  in  their  last  act  of  earthly 
communion.  Elijah,  with  an  overflowing  heart,  tells  Elisha  to  present  now  his  last 
request.  '  Ask  what  I  shall  do  for  thee  before  I  am  taken  away  from  thee. '  Elisha 
had  no  difficulty  in  fixing  upon  his  request.  One  great  thought  now  filled  his 
mind — anxiety  about  the  cause  of  God  after  Elijah  was  gone.  Hence  he  instantly 
replies  :  'I  pray  thee  let  a  double  portion  of  thy  spirit  be  upon  me.'  But  whilst 
they  were  talking,  behold  there  aj^peared  a  chariot  of  fire,  and  horses  of  fire,  and 
parted  them  both  asunder,  and  Elijah  went  up  by  whirlwind  into  Heaven." 

Dr.  Paxton  is  tall,  rather  spare,  erect,  and  in  the  full  activity  of 
his  years.  His  head  is  round,  and  his  features  are  delicate,  regular, 
and  highly  expressive  of  the  best  qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  He 
has  clear,  speaking,  kindly  eyes,  and  prominent  intellectual  charac- 
teristics.    He  is  a  man  of  peculiar  blandness  of  manner,  and,  without 

42G 


REV.     WILLIAM     M.      PAXTON,     D.  D. 

the  slightest  sacrifice  of  a  most  becoming  dignity,  places  himself  on 
pleasant  and  familiar  terms  with  you.  He  converses  freely  on  all 
current  and  learned  subjects  with  the  interest  always  imparted  by  an 
observing  and  educated  man. 

Dr.  Paxton  is  emphatically  a  man  of  power.  He  has  energy  foi 
any  work  and  ability  for  any  position.  His  natural  qualities  were 
of  the  first  order,  and  these  have  been  developed  by  the  severest 
training  of  scholarship.  He  speaks  fluently,  with  the  ease  and  polish 
of  diction  and  grace  of  gesture  which  show  the  natural  and  educated 
orator ;  but  above  all  he  has  a  depth,  comprehensiveness,  and  force 
of  reasoning  which  are  irresistible.  He  is  one  of  those  men  who 
instantly  satisfies  yoa  that  he  is  the  master  of  his  subject.  There 
are  no  common-place  thoughts,  no  dim  and  misty  statements  of 
argument,  and  no  attempts  to  make  wordy  declamation  serve  the 
pui-pose  of  research  and  logic.  It  is  a  sermon  eloquent,  and  at  the 
same  time  complete  in  sterling  original  ideas,  and  one  in  which 
imagination  bestows  its  pleasing  adornment  without  for  a  moment 
modifying  the  strength  and  effect  of  comprehensive  argument.  The 
doctrines  of  his  church,  the  themes  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  fitting 
topics  of  the  hour,  are  all  dealt  with  in  a  manner  the  most  masterly. 
Mind  and  heart  are  at  work  in  all  these  efforts ;  the  Christian  and 
the  man  give  truth  and  gentleness  to  every  word ;  and  eloquence 
and  conscientious  earnestness  pervade  the  whole  sermon. 


427 


REV.  WILLIAM  H.   PENDLETON, 

PASTOxt  or"  Tnn:  tvest  fifty-thitm>  street 

BA^T'TIST    OHXJKCn,    NEW   YORIt. 


EV.  WILLIAM  H.  PENDLETON  was  born  in  Stoning- 
ton,  Conn.,  in  the  year  1832.  He  spent  his  early  years  in 
academic  pursuits  and  the  study  of  the  law.  He  went  to 
California,  and  while  there  entered  upon  the  work  of  the 
Christian  ministry  in  1855.  His  first  pastoral  charge  was 
assumed  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  three  years  later,  in  which  he 
spent  eighteen  months.  Ai'ter  this  he  became  pastor  of  the 
Cannon  street  Baptist  Church,  New  York,  and  continued  to  labor  as 
its  pastor  for  several  years.  He  has  now  been  in  his  present  position 
for  a  length  of  time  In  all  these  positions  his  ministry  has  been 
eminently  successful.  The  aggregate  of  conversions  under  his  preach- 
ing reaches  nearly  six  hundred.  He  is  a  good  deal  of  a  revivalist, 
and  lie  does  not  allow  his  congregation  to  grow  apathetic  in  the 
religious  work. 

Mr.  Pendleton  has  obtained  some  celebrity  as  an  energetic  member 
and  manager  of  the  American  Bible  Union,  the  organization  ol 
Baptists  which  is  engaged  in  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  He  is 
also  the  Eecording  Secretary. 

Mr.  Pendleton  is  under  the  average  height,  with  a  compact  fi-ame, 
and  much  activity.  His  head  is  large  and  round,  with  a  square  face, 
and  regular  features.  His  eyes  are  large  and  full  of  good  nature  and 
sympathy,  and  his  bold  forehead  shows  that  he  is  not  wanting  in  in- 
tellectual capacity.  He  is  a  man  of  energy,  one  who  loves  to  toil, 
and  who  despairs  not  though  defeat  often  overtakes  him.  He  is 
courageous,  and  he  makes  all  his  burdens  of  labor  lighter  by  a  cheer- 
fulness and  hopefulness  which  never  forsake  him.  He  is  modest  in 
his  bearing,  frank  and  warm  in  his  feelings,  and  strict  and  true  in  re- 
gard to  his  principles  and  his  duty. 

428 


REV.     WILLIAM    H.     PENDLETON". 

Mr,  Pendleton  is  a  man  of  the  most  unpretending  appearance  and 
manners.  He  is  so  modest  that  he  always  shrinks  from  prominence 
when  there  are  others  who  can  take  such  positions.  He  loves  to  work 
silently,  and  in  those  places  where  notice  is  not  likely  to  be  taken  of 
him.  So  modest  and  unassuming  is  he  that  to  the  ordinary  observer 
he  might  readily  be  regarded  as  a  person  of  little  usefulness  or  in- 
fluence in  the  affairs  of  the  church.  But  this  would  be  a  grave 
mistake.  He  has  a  treasure  of  energy  which  makes  him  "  a  host  in 
himself,"  and  he  has  a  cheerfulness  and  amiability  which  make  him 
popular,  and  hence  influential  with  all  classes. 

He  is  an  attractive  and  effective  speaker.  He,  of  course,  does  not 
lose  sight  of  the  potency  of  a  logical  argument,  but  his  forte  is  in  im- 
passioned declamation.  He  feels  in  his  own  heart  the  full  force  and 
expression  of  every  word  that  he  utters,  and  he  speaks  in  a  fervor  of 
language  which  is  natural  oratory  with  him.  His  language  is  well 
chosen,  it  is  pointed  and  comprehensive  ;  but,  above  all,  it  is  fervent 
Like  all  such  speakers,  he  indulges  in  considerable  gesticulation,  but 
it  is  appropriate  and  deeply  impressive.  He  is  a  very  good  extem- 
poraneous speaker,  and,  indeed,  many  think  that  these  are  his  best 
efforts.  It  has  been  very  justly  remarked  of  him  that,  while  his  mind 
is  essentially  poetic,  he  has  with  sound  discretion  chastened  it  to  the 
more  sober  shade  of  thought  suitable  to  the  character  of  the  Christian 
ministry. 

Mr.  Pendleton  belongs  to  the  working  young  ministers  of  the 
Baptist  denomination.  He  will  undoubtedly  win  for  himself  a  pro- 
minent position  in  the  ministry  and  a  fair  share  of  the  world's  re- 
nown. And  he  will  win  it  by  work.  No  man  will  ever  call  him  a 
sluggard  when  there  is  labor  to  be  done,  and  no  duty  will  be  found 
neglected  when  it  has  been  entrusted  to  his  fidelity  and  energy.  With 
these  characteristics  he  has  a  future  of  great  promise,  and  his  deno- 
mination will  always  have  in  him  an  unwavering  worker  in  the  vine- 
yard of  the  faith. 

429 


REV.  CHARLES  S.  POMEROY, 

MYTERIA.1V    CHUIiCH,    BROOltLYlV, 


EV.  CHARLES  S.  POMEROT  was  born  in  Brooklyn, 
New  York,  July  7th,  1834,  He  is  the  son  of  Daniel  and 
Clarissa  L.  Pomeroy,  both  of  whom  are  deceased.  In 
1854,  he  graduated  at  Columbia  College,  New  York,  and 
soon  after  entered  mercantile  life.  He  made  a  profession  of 
faith  in  Christ,  and  united  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Brooklyn,  where  both  of  his  parents  were  members,  and  his  father 
an  elder,  during  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Hogarth.  Not 
long  subsequent  to  this,  he  began  to  prepare  for  the  ministry;  and 
after  two  years  of  private  study,  he  took  a  partial  course  at  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Brooklyn  (New  School),  in  May,  1864,  and  the  same 
year  was  called  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Ross  street  Presbyterian 
Church,  a  new  enterprise  just  organized  from  members  of  three  dif- 
ferent churches  in  the  eastern  district  of  Brooklyn.  He  was  ordained 
and  installed  pastor  of  the  Ross  street  church  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Nassau(01d  School),  on  the  16th  of  October,  1864. 

At  first  the  congregation  worshiped  in  a  hired  hall,  but  at  once 
began  to  build  a  handsome  brick  and  stone  chapel.  Here  they  re- 
mained five  years,  until  the  growth  of  the  congregation  absolutely 
required  a  more  spacious  edifice.  In  1872,  they  finished  their  pres- 
ent large  and  convenient  structure  of  iron,  upon  lots  previously  held 
for  that  purpose.  The  church  property  is  worth  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Nearly  four  hundred  members  were 
added  to  the  church  under  Mr.  Pomeroy's  ministry.  In  1873,  he  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  in  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
He  was  the  stated  clerk  of  the  synod  of  Long  Island,  and,  also  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Brooklyn,  having  been  appointed  as  such  when 
these  bodies  were  organized,  at  the  re-union  of  the  two  branches  of 

the  Presbyterian  Church.     He  was  married  September  7th,  1858,  to 

430 


REV.      CHARLES     S.     POMEROY. 

Miss  Clara  Townsend,  of  New  York.  They  have  had  five  children, 
three  boys  and  two  girls,  but  have  suffered  the  deep  affliction  of  the 
loss  of  all  of  them. 

Mr.  Pomeroy  is  of  a  round,  erect  form,  with  a  finely  formed  head 
His  complexion  is  naturally  fair,  and  usually  tinged  with  the  ruddy 
glow  of  health.  His  eyes  are  soft,  having  a  bright,  cheerful  twinkle, 
which  is  almost  one  of  merriment  In  fact,  his  whole  face  is  most 
pleasing.  There  is  not  a  feature  or  a  line  in  it  which  do  not  proclaim 
both  his  intellect  and  his  virtue.  Gifts  of  the  mind  and  puritv  of  the 
heart  have  written  their  image  in  its  whole  structure,  and.  those  who 
look  at  it  would  rely  on  him  for  these  without  a  moment's  hesitation. 
His  manners  are  particularly  warm  and  gentlemanly  with  all  persons. 
In  conversation  he  is  fluent  and  animated. 

In  all  the  duties  of  the  pastorship  he  is  a  conscientious  and  earn- 
est worker.  With  a  great  deal  of  practical  tact  and  efficiency  in  his 
dealings  with  others,  he  is  a  man  so  dignified  and  consistent  in  his 
character  as  a  clergyman,  that  his  success  and  popularity  have  been 
equally  marked  throughout  his  career.  He  preaches  without  display, 
but  with  a  vigor  of  thought  and  a  seriousness  of  demeanor  which  com- 
mand the  strict  attention  of  large  audiences.  A  deeply  pious  man 
himself,  making  religion  the  stay  of  this  life  and  the  hope  of  the  next, 
with  a  fullness  of  confidence  and  faith,  which  amounts  to  an  enthusi- 
asm, he  shows  in  his  sermons  that  he  is  moved  by  the  sole  purpose 
of  saving  sinners.  Hence,  if  there  is  a  flight  of  eloquence,  if  there 
are  words  of  touching  pathos,  it  is  where  he  is  seeking,  borne  on  by 
his  religious  fervor,  to  gain  some  idle  ear  and  froward  heart.  Cer- 
tainly his  own  talents  cannot  be  lost  sight  of  by  those  who  hear  him, 
but,  it  is  likewise  certain,  that  personally  he  uses  them  merely  as  the 
humble  instruments  in  his  Master's  work.  By  his  people  he  is  be- 
loved for  beautiful  traits  of  character,  which  are  exhibited  in  all  his 
relations  with  them,  and  by  the  community  at  large  he  is  regarded 
with  high  and  sincere  appreciation. 

431 


REY.  ELBERT  S.  PORTER,  D.  D., 

i»A^TOii    OF    the:   nnsT  itEFOR]\n:i>  chxjuch, 

BKOOItLYlV,     (E.    JO.) 


lEY.  DR.  ELBERT  S.  PORTER  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Hillsboro',  New  Jersey,  October  23rd,  1820.  His  early 
studies  were  at  a  select  school  at  Ovid,  Seneca  county, 
New  York,  where  he  was  sent  at  six  years  of  age,  and  at 
a  school  in  the  city  of  New  York  kept  by  the  father  of  the 
late  distinguished  lawyer,  James  T.  Brady.  When  between 
eleven  and  twelve  he  went  into  a  store  at  Millstone,  New  York,  for 
one  year.  After  this  he  attended  the  Academy  at  Soraerville,  New 
Jersey,  where  he  spent  three  years.  He  entered  the  Sophomore 
class  of  Princeton  College  in  his  sixteenth  year,  and  was  graduated 
three  years  later,  in  1839.  He  studied  law  for  a  short  time,  but  did 
not  seek  admission  to  the  bar.  He  was  graduated  in  theology  at  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  New  Brunswick  in  1842.  In  the  same  year 
he  was  licensed  by  the  classis  of  New  Brunswick,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing fall  was  installed  at  Chatham,  in  Columbia  county.  New 
York,  as  pastor  of  a  small  missionary  congregation.  This  point  is 
now  known  as  Chatham  on  the  Harlem  Railroad,  and  the  junction 
of  the  Boston  and  Albany  Railroad.  At  the  date  of  Dr.  Porter's 
going  there  it  was  a  small  settlement  of  a  poor,  and  to  a  considerable 
extent,  vicious  population.  Filled  with  zeal  in  the  ministerial  work, 
he  commenced  his  labors,  and  met  with  great  success.  He  remained 
seven  years,  and  built  up  one  of  the  most  flourishing  of  the  country 
churches  of  the  Reformed  denomination.  He  next  accepted  a  call 
to  his  present  church,  then  known  as  the  First  Reformed  Dutch 
Church  in  Williamsburgh,  of  which  he  became  the  pastor  November 
1st,  1849,  and  has  now  officiated  for  twenty-four  years. 

The  history  of  this  church  is  very  interesting.  Its  growth  shows 
the  wonderful  changes  which  forty-four  years  have  produced  in  the 
entire  section  now  included  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn.  In  the  first 
year  of  the  present  century,  Brooklyn  contained  only  3,298  inhabi- 

432 


^: 


L/6riyO^-^ 


REV.     ELBERT     S.     PORTER,     D.  D. 

tants,  and  in  1834  was  erected  into  a  city  with  a  population  of  about 
24,000.  It  then  had  but  one  Keformed  Dutch  Church,  whereas  now 
there  are  about  fifteen.  In  the  year  1.817,  a  ferry  was  estabhshed 
between  the  foot  of  Grand  street,  New  Yoi-k,  and  the  foot  of  what 
afterwards  became  Grand  street.  Williamsburgh.  Prior  to  that  period 
the  inhabitants  crossed  the  river  by  sail  or  paddle-boats.  The  ferry 
soon  contributed  to  the  establishment  of  a  considerable  settlement 
along  the  shore,  from  Grand  to  North  Second  street,  through  which 
ran  the  turnpike  to  Newtown.  A  village  charter  was  obtained  in 
1827,  when  the  population  amounted  to  about  fifteen  hundred.  At 
that  date  the  shore  from  Wallabout  Bay  to  Newtown  Creek  was 
dotted  with  comfortable  farm-houses,  occupied  by  the  old  Dutch  fam- 
ilies. Williamsburgh  became  a  city,  January  1st,  1852,  and  it  was 
consolidated  with  Brooklyn  and  Bushwick,  under  one  charter,  Janu- 
ary 1st,  1855.  At  the  date  of  the  consolidation,  Williamsburgh  had  a 
population  of  about  fifty  thousand,  and  Brooklyn  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand.  The  entire  population  at  this  time  is  about 
four  hundred  thousand. 

The  church  in  Williamsburgh  grew  out  of  the  First  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  of  Bushwick.  On  the  28th  of  September,  1828,  the 
corner-stone  of  a  church  edifice  was  laid  on  a  site  which  is  now  on 
the  corner  of  Fourth  and  South  Second  streets.  It  was  dedicated 
on  the  26th  of  July,  1829,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Broadhead,  of  New  York, 
preaching  the  sermon.  The  congregation  was  organized  as  a  sepa- 
rate church  by  the  classis  of  Long  Island  on  the  1st  November,  1829. 
Immediately  after  its  organization  the  chui'ch  received  into  its  ser- 
vice the  Rev.  James  Demarest,  who  for  the  first  six  months  served 
in  the  capacity  of  a  missionar}' ,  and  was  supported  in  part  by  the 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions.  On  the  first  Sabbath  of  his  labore  he 
preached  to  sixteen  people,  on  the  second  to  eighteen,  and  on  the 
third  to  twentj^-four.  At  that  date  the  building  was  remote  from 
the  village,  which  was  forming  around  and  above  the  foot  of  Grand 
street.  Fourth  street  was  then  but  a  farmer's  lane — rough,  uneven 
with  boulders,  and  studded  here  and  there  with  stumps  or  with  trees 
of  the  original  forest.  Flagged  sidewalks,  and  pavements  as  yet 
there  were  none.  Rev.  Mr.  Demarest  labored  as  missionary  and 
pastor  for  nine  years  and  nine  months,  when  he  resigned.  The  pas- 
torate was  next  filled  by  the  Rev.  William  H.  Yan  Doren,  who  re- 
mained until  the  spring  of  1849,  about  ten  years.    In  the  spring  of  the 

same  year  important  improvements  of  the  church  edifice  were  com- 

433 


REV,  ELBEKT  9.  PORTER,  D.  D. 

pleted.  The  installation  of  Dr.  Porter  took  place  on  the  third  Sun- 
day of  December.  1849,  and  his  ministry  has  been  the  most  noted  in 
the  history  of  the  church.  In  1849,  Williamsburgh  was  still  a  small 
place.  The  streets  were  unlighted  by  night,  save  only  when  the 
mooti  relieved  the  darkness.  Since  then  every  one  of  the  local  in- 
stitutions has  been  established,  such  as  banks,  markets,  libraries,  and 
associations  for  public  beneficence.  The  churches  were  few,  and 
their  membership  not  large. 

From  an  early  date  the  First  Church  contributed  its  members 
and  its  means  to  found  other  churches.  The  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Williamsburgh  grew  out  of  it ;  in  1848,  twenty  three 
members  were  dismissed  to  form  the  church  at  Greenpoint;  in  1851, 
several  were  dismissed  to  aid  in  the  organization  of  the  South  Bush- 
wick  Church,  and  in  1854,  members  were  dismissed  to  fouud  the  Lee 
Avenue  Church.  For  several  years,  contributions  were  made  to  the 
salaries  of  the  ministers  of  both  the  last-named  churches.  In  1855, 
a  Mission  Sunday  School  was  established  in  Ninth  street,  which  has 
since  been  maintained  in  great  vigor  and  efficiency,  at  an  expense 
of  never  less  than  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum.  The  church  has 
repeatedly  given  its  assistance,  pecuniarily  and  otherwise,  in  other 
practical  efforts  of  religious  usefulness. 

In  1854,  the  spire  of  the  church  was  prostrated  by  a  tornado. 
Subsequently  the  edifice  was  enlarged  and  improved  at  a  cost  of 
about  five  thousand  dollars  in  all.  In  1860,  a  contract  was  made 
for  the  purchase  of  a  site  for  a  new  edifice,  when  the  war  arrested  fur- 
ther movements.  In  July,  1866,  the  church  on  Fourth  street  was  sold 
to  the  Central  Baptist  congregation,  and  in  September,  1867,  the  foun- 
dations of  a  new  edifice  were  commenced  on  the  site  purchased  in  1860. 
This  site  consists  of  seven  lots,  four  on  Bedford  avenue,  and  three 
on  Clymer  street,  one  of  the  most  select  and  highly-improved  neigh- 
borhoods of  the  city.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  July,  1868. 
The  completed  church  was  dedicated  in  October,  1869,  and  cost,  with 
a  chapel  adjoining,  $130,000.  The  building  is  in  the  Eoman- 
esque  style  of  architecture,  and  is  one  hundred  and  ten  feet 
long  (exclusive  of  the  chapel)  by  seventy  feet  wide.  The  whole 
front  on  Bedford  avenue,  including  towers,  is  eighty-two  feet  On 
the  north-west  corner  there  is  a  tower  ninety-eight  feet  high,  and  on 
the  opposite  corner  is  a  large  turret  seventy-eight  feet  high.  The 
basement  is  built  of  Belleville  stone,  and  the  walls  above  the  base- 
ment are  faced  up  with  Philadelphia  pressed  brick,  and  tiimmed 

434 


BEV.      ELBERT     S.     PORTER,     D.  D. 

with  Dorchester  stone.  The  audience  room  is  eighty-seven  feet  by 
sixty-seven  in  the  clear.  The  windows  are  filled  with  en- 
riched glass.  The  first  floor  is  seated  with  walnut  pews  of  the  most 
approved  pattern.  There  are  galleries  on  three  sides,  having  hand- 
some o|)enwork  fronts  made  of  walnut  and  butternut  woods.  These 
are  unlike  most  galleries,  in  that  they  are  constructed  with  one  level 
floor,  the  entire  width,  in  place  of  the  usual  style  with  platforms 
graded  one  above  the  other.  This  level  gallery  is  divided  into 
spaces  of  about  eight  by  eight  feet  each,  with  light  open  baluster 
railings,  carpeted  the  same  as  the  first  floor,  each  space  furnished 
with  walnut  upholstered  chairs  and  a  small  center-table,  thus  making 
the  gallery  the  most  attractive  portion  of  the  house.  These  spaces 
have  been  rented  for  an  aggregate  sum  of  three  thousand  dollars. 
The  building  is  provided  with  a  new  system  of  ventilation.  The  walls 
and  ceilings  are  richly  tinted  with  delicate  hues.  The  church  seats 
fourteen  hundred,  and  the  chapel  accomodates  six  hundred.  Three 
hundred  and  twenty -five  dollars  premium  was  paid  for  the  choice  of 
the  first  pew  at  the  sale  of  them.  Taken  as  a  whole,  this  is  one  of 
the  most  elegant  and  commodious  edifices  of  the  kind  to  be  found 
in  the  United  States. 

During  the  day  of  dedication  three  imposing  and  largely  attended 
services  took  place  in  the  church.  Dr.  Porter  preached  the  principal 
sermon,  the  Rev.  Dr.  De  Witt  delivered  an  address  and  the  dedica- 
tion sentences  and  prayer,  and  Chancellor  Isaac  Ferris  delivered  an 
affecting  and  appropriate  address  to  the  congregation.  There  are 
now  about  four  hundred  members,  and  each  of  the  two  Sunday 
schools  has  about  two  hundred  scholars. 

Dr.  Porter  received  his  degree  of  D.  D,  from  Rutgers  College, 

New  Brunswick,  in  1854.     For  fourteen  years  he  was  the  editor  of 

the  Christian  Intelligencer,  the  organ  of  the  reformed  denomination. 

His  career  as  an  editor  was  brilliant  in  the  extreme,  and  when  he 

resigned  this  position,  both  the  religious  and  secular  press  united  in 

an  expression  of  the  highest  regard  for  his  character  and  talents. 

Besides  his  editorial  writings,  he  has  published  in  serial  form  a 

"  History  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  the  United  States,"  the 

"  Pastor's  Guide,"  and  other  small  volumes,  and  various  occasional 

sermons.     One  of  these  latter  is  a  "  Historical  Discourse,"  delivered 

on  the  final  services  in  the  old  church,  and  is  of  much  value  from  its 

historical  information.     Dr.    Porter  was  the   president  of  the  fij-st 

General  Synod  held  after  the  name  of  the  denomination  was  changed 

435 


REV.     ELBERT     S.     PORTER,     D.  D. 

from  the  Reformed  Dutcb  to  the  Eeformed  Church  of  North  Ameri* 
ca.  He  has  a  beautiful  farm  of  sixty  acres  at  Claverack,  in  Colum- 
bia county,  which  is  well  managed  and  made  profitable  by  a  person 
in  charge. 

Dr.  Porter  has  an  equally-proportioned  figure,  of  the  average 
height.  He  has  a  quiet,  plain  appearance,  but  his  whole  manner  at 
once  assures  you  that  he  is  a  man  of  both  dignity  and  force  of  char- 
acter. His  head  is  long,  with  a  sharp  chin,  but  much  fullness  in 
the  upper  portion.  The  features  are  prominent  and  expressive. 
His  head  and  face  proclaim  three  distinctive  and  strong  qualities  in 
him.  In  the  first  place,  he  is  a  thoroughly  conscientious  man  in 
every  duty  of  life  ;  second,  he  is  strong  in  his  own  self-reliance ;  and 
third,  his  mind  is  clear,  comprehensive,  and  practical  on  all  occasions 
and  on  ail  subjects.  He  was  never  found  wanting  in  any  place  that 
duty  placed  him  ;  and  in  the  church  and  everywhere  he  is  one  of 
those  who  naturally  take  the  position  of  a  leader  and  example  to 
other  men.  In  his  conversation,  in  his  calmness  and  method,  in  his 
confidence,  which,  after  all,  is  not  unmingled  with  caution,  you  ob- 
tain a  vivid  insight  into  the  moral  and  physical  power  which  is  in- 
born in  him.  He  is  not  demonstrative  or  presumptuous,  but  quiet, 
unobtrusive  and  modest.  Agreeable,  cordial,  and  frank  in  his  man- 
ners, they  are  not  of  a  kind  to  draw  any  especial  attention  upon  him. 
But  when  work  is  to  be  done,  when  cool,  practical  judgment  is 
wanted,  when  a  champion  and  a  hero  are  required,  then  he  comes  to 
the  front,  with  his  strong  nerve,  his  willing  mind  and  hands,  and  his 
brave  and  hopeful  heart 

His  work  in  the  ministry  stands  nobly  conspicuous  in  the  religious 
record  of  his  times  for  its  fidelity  and  success.  It  has  not  been  a 
work  of  show  and  boastfulness,  but  one  which  will  speak  through 
all  denominational  history  for  its  usefulness  to  the  church  and  the 
community.  His  sermons  excel  in  both  learning  and  literary  ability. 
He  writes  in  an  elegant,  compact,  and  forcible  style  of  composition, 
showing  the  ready  pen,  and  enlarged  and  brilliant  mental  powers. 
Whatever  he  displays  appears  in  thought  and  argument  which  are 
peculiarly  his  own.  There  is  no  seeming  effort  and  no  display,  but 
his  pleasant  flow  of  tender  language,  and  his  logical,  sensible  views, 
never  fail  to  arrest  all  ears. 

436 


RT.  REV.  BISHOP  HORATIO  POTTER,  D.B, LI. D.,  D.C. L., 

OF"    THE    IVETV    YORIt     DIOCESE     OF    THE     PROT- 
EST A.NT    EI»ISCC>I»^E    CHiXJKCH. 


IGHT  EEY.  DR  HOEATIO  POTTER,  Bishop  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Diocese  of  New  York,  wag 
born  at  Beekmaii  (now  La  Grange),  Dutchess  County, 
New  York,  February  9th,  1802.  His  early  education  was 
received  at  an  academy  at  Poughkeepsie,  He  was  graduated  at 
Union  College  in  1826,  and  was  ordained  a  deacon  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church,  July,  1827,  and  priest  in  the  following  year.  During 
the  same  year  he  was  appointed  professor  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy  in  Washington  (now  Trinity)  College,  Hartford,  where  he 
remained  five  years.  In  the  interval  he  declined  an  invitation  fi.'om 
Bishop  Moore  to  become  assistant  minister  of  the  Monumental 
church,  Richmond,  Yirginia.  In  1883,  he  accepted  the  rectorship 
of  St.  Peter's  church,  Albany,  and  declined  the  presidency  of  Trin- 
ity College  in  1837,  after  an  election  to  that  position.  On  the  death 
of  Bishop  Wainwright.  in  1854,  he  was  elected  provisional  bishop 
of  the  diocese  of  New  York,  and  consecrated  November  22d,  1854, 
and  on  the  decease  of  Bishop  B.  T.  Onderdonk,  who  was  under  sus- 
pension, April  30th,  1861,  he  became  bishop.  It  may  be  mentioned 
as  a  singular  coincidence,  that  a  brother  of  Bishop  Potter  was  bishop 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  that  each  of  them  succeeded  one  of  the 
brothers  Onderdonk. 

During  a  visit  to  England,  Bishop  Potter  was  entertained  with 
marked  honors  by  the  English  bishops. 

The  western  portion  of  the  State  of  New  York  has  long  been  a 
separate  diocese,  and  more  recently  both  Long  Island  and  Central 
New  York  have  been  erected  into  a  third  and  fourth  see.  The 
increase  of  Episcopal  churches  in  the  city  of  New  York  has  been 
greater  than  in  any  of  the  other  denominations,  and  the  increase  ha^ 
been  large  in  other  parts  of  the  State. 

Bishop  Potter  resides  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  an  Episcopa 

residence  (provided),  and  enjoys  a  large  salary,  which  is  paid  out  of  a 

fund  created  for  the  purpose.     He  is  expected  to  visit  each  church  in 

437 


RT.     REV.     HORATIO     POTTER,     D.  D.,    LL.  D.,  D.  C.  L. 

his  diocese  once  in  each  year,  when  candidates  for  confirmation  are 
presented. 

Bishop  Potter  is  tall  and  thin,  with  narrow  shoulders,  erect  car- 
riage, and  active  step.  His  head  is  of  the  long  kind,  with  thin 
visage,  and  deep-set  eyes.  His  hair  is  of  a  silver  gray,  and  he  has  a 
round,  full  brow.     His  manners  are  always  dignified. 

He  has  an  absorbing,  ever-apparent  conviction  of  the  exaltation 
and  sacred  character  of  his  episcopal  office.  If  men  are  born  for 
bishops  he  is  one  of  them.  He  exhibits  to  the  fullest  extent  that 
solemnity  of  demeanor,  that  strictness  of  life,  and  that  superiority  of 
talent  required  in  one  called  to  such  functions.  The  atmosphere 
about  him  seems  laden  with  influences  awing  to  the  sensibilities,  all 
his  daily  steps  are  in  the  path  of  conscientious  duty,  and  his  gran- 
deur of  intellect  makes  his  authority  more  imposing. 

In  social  intercourse  he  is  a  most  courtly  man.  He  belongs  to 
the  old  school  of  gentlemen,  and  his  demeanor  has  the  greatest  pro- 
priety and  polish  about  it  on  all  occasions.  His  dress  is  strictly  of 
the  clerical  order— i.  <?.,  a  single-breasted  frock  coat,  and  turned-up 
collar,  with  white  cravat,  the  suit  being  black. 

Bishop  Potter  is  an  agreeable  speaker.  He  has  a  voice  which  is 
of  sufficient  volume,  though  not  by  any  means  powerful.  His 
utterances  are  calm  and  dignified,  and  evidently  the  offspring  of  a 
gentle  Christian  spirit.  His  arguments  are  in  the  plainest  language, 
and  they  are  urged  with  the  earnestness  of  one  fully  apj)reciating  his 
responsibility  as  a  religious  teacher,  and  personally  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  every  human  soul. 

As  a  scholar,  he  ranks  with  the  ablest  in  his  denomination.  He 
has  found  no  models  in  superficial  men.  He  abhors  anything  like 
charlatanism,  and  has  won  his  own  way  by  steps  of  severe  applica- 
tion, and  obtained  lionors  which  are  only  the  proper  reward  of  hon- 
orable success  and  a  conscientious  ambition. 

In  the  sterling  parts  of  character,  in  all  the  practices  of  a  pure 
and  godly  life,  and  in  a  dignified  and  proper  sense  of  his  Episcopal 
functions,  Bishop  Potter  stands  a  pre-eminent  example  to  the  world. 
He  is  a  good  and  valuable  man,  in  the  fullest  meaning  of  the  term- 
Universally  popular  in  his  denomination  among  both  clergy  and 
laity,  exerting  his  eminent  talents  and  diligent  labors  with  the  great- 
est success  in  one  of  the  most  wealthy  and  intelligent  dioceses  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  he  occupies  a  position  alike  honorable 

to  himself  and  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  religion. 

138 


KEY.  HKNllY  C.  POTTER,  D.  D., 

rvEW    Yonit. 


EV.  DR.  HENRY  C.  POTTER  is  the  son  of  the  late 
Right  Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
was  bom  at  Schenectady,  New  York.  He  was  educated 
at  the  Episcopal  Academy  of  Philadelphia,  and  at  the 

f  Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia,  from  which  latter  institution 
^.^  he  was  graduated  in  1857.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in  the 
same  year,  and  called  to  Christ  Church,  Greensburgh,  Westmoreland 
county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained  until  May,  1859.  At  this 
period  he  accepted  a  call  to  St.  John's  church,  Troy,  New  York.  In 
1862  he  was  called  to  Christ  Church,  Cincinnati,  but  declined.  In 
the  sjDring  of  1863  he  was  tendered  the  presidency  of  Kenyon  Col- 
lege, Ohio,  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  the  rectorship  of  St 
Paul's  Church,  Albany,  both  of  which  invitations  he  declined.  In 
May,  1866,  he  accepted  a  call  to  be  "  Assistant  Minister  of  Trinity 
Church,  Boston,  on  the  Greene  Foundation,"  where  he  remained  until 
May,  1868,  when  he  became  rector  of  Grace  Church,  Broadway, 
New  York. 

He  has  published  "Thirty  Years  Renewed,"  "Our  Threefold 
Victory,"  "Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  and  their  "Work," 
"The  Church  and  the  Children,"  "The  Religion  for  To-day,"  and 
other  sermons  and  essays.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from 
Union  College  in  1865 

Grace  Church  is  one  of  the  old  and  wealthy  Episcopal  organiza- 
tions of  New  York.  Worship  was  held  in  former  times  in  a  very 
fine  structure  which  stood  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Rector 
street,  a  little  farther  down  than  Trinity  Church.  The  church  was 
an  imposing  building,  and,  when  that  part  of  the  city  was  the  abode 
of  the  wealth  and  fashion  of  New  York,  was  regarded  as  a  great 
ornament,  and  largely  attended  by  intelligent  and  influential  peopla 
The  late  Bishop  Wainwright  was  the  rector  for  many  j^ears.     At 

439 


REV.     HE  NET     0.      POTTER,     D.  D. 

length  a  removal  to  the  upper  part  of  Broadway  was  determined 
upon,  and  a  location  was  selected  near  the  corner  of  Tenth  street. 
At  that  period  this  portion  of  Broadway  and  the  neighboring  streets 
were  occupied  with  private  residences,  and  the  idea  of  the  locality 
being  invaded  by  business  was  never  thought  of.  A  building,  which 
was  then  regarded  as  the  most  elegant  and  costly  in  the  United 
States,  was  constructed,  and  it  at  once  became  the  fashionable  church 
of  New  York.  It  is  probably  still  the  wealthiest  congregation  of 
the  city,  but  it  is  beginning  to  suffer  in  attendance  from  being  so  far 
down  town.  At  an  early  period,  and  in  building  the  new  church, 
the  congregation  was  much  assisted  by  Trinity  Church  in  the  dona- 
tion of  valuable  real  estate.  Eev.  Dr.  Thomas  H.  Taylor  was  the 
rector  for  many  years,  and  remained  in  charge  until  his  death. 

•  Dr.  Potter  is  above  the  medium  height,  finely  ^proportioned,  and 
of  an  erect,  graceful  bearing.  He  has  a  large  head,  with  delicate  and 
intellectual  features.  His  face  is  ruddy  and  healthful  looking,  and 
his  whole  appearance  gives  the  impression  of  a  man  vigorous  and 
ready  for  any  earnest  work.  He  has  a  quiet  dignity  of  manner,  but 
is  courteous  and  affable  with  all.  His  countenance  is  very  winning, 
for  it  has  not  only  the  light  of  a  superior  intelligence,  but  it  has 
amiability  and  goodness  as  well.  You  see  that  he  is  a  man  of  mental 
power,  and  one  who  is  well  calculated  to  be  a  guide  and  teacher  for 
other  men.  But  there  is  a  kindness  in  the  calm  glance  of  his  eyes, 
a  softness  and  gentleness  in  his  tone  and  address,  and  a  geniality  and 
blandness  in  his  manners  which  show  that  he  is  a  person  of  a  true 
and  noble  heart  He  is  a  man  for  hard  work,  strict  attention  to 
ministerial  duty,  an  eager,  laborious  student  in  the  most  extensive 
fields  of  learning.  But  he  is  never  so  much  absorbed  in  his  profes- 
sional labors  that  he  fails  to  give  evidence  of  those  traits  of  character 
which  display  the  sentiment  and  sympathies  of  the  tender  heart.  Some 
men  in  the  midst  of  an  active  public  career  become  indifferent  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  emotions.  They  grow  severe  and  rigid  in  their 
habits  of  lif&and  opinions,  and  look  upon  the  heart  as  a  very  weak 
spot  in  the  human  organization.  There  are  other  public  characters, 
however,  and  Dr.  Potter  is  one  of  them,  who  always  show  that  they 
are  under  control  of  the  heart  not  less  than  the  head.  They  exhibit 
it  in  a  larger  share  of  humanity,  in  di'awing  nearer  to  their  fellow- 
men  in  all  personal  relations,  and  in  giving  force  and  substance  to  an 
actual  brotherhood  of  mankind. 

All  who  come  in  contact  with  Dr.  Potter  find  him  intellectually 

440 


REV.      HE-NRY     C.     POTTER,     D.  D. 

able,  but  at  the  same  time  empliatically  a  man  of  soul.  Keen  and 
far-reaching  as  he  is  in  mind,  he  is  likewise  gentle  and  loving  in  all 
his  emotions.  Gather  as  he  may  the  rich  stores  of  learning,  he  is 
not  satisfied  unless  he  can  spare  to  others  the  equally  procious  treas- 
ures of  a  heart  open  to  every  sorrow  and  made  gladsome  by  every 
joy.  His  words  are  always  kind,  and  his  sympathy  is  always  sincere. 
You  see  all  this  in  his  amiable  and  benevolent  countenance,  and  you 
are  made  to  feel  it  in  his  warm  and  unselfish  actions.  If  you  go  to 
him  to  learn  your  moral  and  religious  duty,  he  thus  instructs  you,  by 
his  example  and  teachings,  in  the  practice  of  the  cardinal  virtues 
which  render  all  sorrow  and  all  joy  mutual  to  sympathetic  hearts. 

Dr.  Potter  ranks  among  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  younger 
portion  of  the  Episcopal  clei'gy.  His  intellectual  attainments  are 
extensive  and  thorough,  and  his  natural  qualities  in  this  particular 
are  of  such  an  order  that  he  is  fitted  to  become  one  of  the  soundest 
and  most  brilliant  thinkers  of  his  time.  He  excels  as  a  polished  and 
forcible  writer.  He  has  easy  flow  of  thought,  which  is  full  of  vigor 
and  comprehensiveness.  It  is  also  characterized  by  a  great  deal 
of  manly  feeling.  There  is  nothing  like  insipid  sentimentality 
about  what  he  writes,  but  it  is  glowing  with  the  love  of  a  heart 
which  is  ever  beating  in  tenderness  for  his  tempted  and  sin-laden 
race. 

He  has  marked  powers  as  a  pulpit  orator.  His  presence  is  com- 
manding, and  remarkable  for  all  that  grace  and  impressiveness  which 
a  fine  person  and  priestly  habiliments  can  impart.  His  style  of  ad- 
dress is  composed  and  orderl}^,  and  with  just  sufficient  animation 
to  give  it  effectiveness  without  giving  it  too  much  demonstrative- 
ness.  His  voice  is  rich  and  fully  under  his  control,  and  his  gesticu- 
lation is  always  appropriate. 

A  man  of  these  agreeable  personal  qualities  and  of  these  broad 
and  useful  talents  is  certainly  the  one  who  can  be  the  most  success- 
ful in  a  parish  like  that  of  Grace  Church.  All  that  he  has  to  do  is 
to  give  full  scope  to  his  great  abilities,  and  let  eloquence,  learning, 
and  a  pure,  consistent  life  do  their  proper  work.  The  cultivated 
and  influential  people  to  whom  he  preaches  can  and  will  appreciate 
these  qualities,  and  they  have  the  spirit  and  the  means  of  every  kind 
to  give  his  labors  the  most  complete  and  enduring  success. 


Ml 


REV.  HENRY  POWERS, 


1PA.HTCHI     OF     THE     CHXJrtCH     OF     TTIE     MiESSlA^Tl, 
(XJNITAXII^IV, )     NETV    YORIC. 


'EV.  henry  powers  was  born  at  Hadlej,  Massacnu- 
setts,  December  28th,  1833.  His  early  studies  were  at 
home,  and  at  the  district  school  and  academy.  He  was 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1857,  and  in  theology  at  the 
East  Windsor  Theological  Institute  in  1860.  Having  accepted 
i^  a  call  to  the  Second  Congregational  Church  of  West  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  in  October,  18(30.  He 
remained  with  this  congregation  about  four  years,  and  then  went  to 
Danbury,  Connecticut,  as  pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church, 
where  he  remained  about  four  years.  On  January  11th,  1869,  he  was 
called  to  become  the  pastor  of  the  Elm  Place  Congregational  Church, 
Brooklyn.  Mr.  Powers  commenced  his  labors  on  the  first  Sunday  in 
February,  and  was  duly  installed  March  3d,  of  the  same  year.  He 
remained  in  this  pastorship  three  years,  resigning  February  1st,  1872. 
On  Sunday,  November  2ith,  1872,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the 
Second  Congregational  Unitarian  Church,  otherwise  Church  of  the 
Messiah,  New  York,  as  the  successor  of  the  Rev.  George  H.  Hep- 
worth.  Some  months  previously  Mr.  Powers  had  publicly  announced 
his  change  of  belief  to  that  of  the  Unitarian  sect. 

Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Osgood  was  called  to  the  Church  of  the  Messiah, 
in  1849,  who  remained  until  about  1869.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Mr.  Hepworth  in  June  1869,  who  resigned  in  1872.  Alter  occupying 
a  church  on  Broadway  for  many  years,  the  congregation  dedicated 
their  present  magnificent  structure  on  the  corner  of  Thirty-fourth 
street  and  Park  avenue,  in  April,  1867. 

Unitarianism  was  introduced  in  New  York  city  as  early  as  Jan- 
uary, 1794,  by  a  Mr.  John  Butler,  in  a  series  of  lectures.  The  first 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Channing,  in  a  private  house, 
April  25th,  1819.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  Church  of  All  Souls, 
of  whixjh  Dr.  Bellows  is  pastor,  and  which  was  incorporated  Nov. 

442 


REV.      HENRY     POWERS. 

15th,  1819,  as  the  First  Congregational  Unitarian  Church  of  New 
York  Citj.  The  Rev.  William  Ware  was  its  first  pastor,  from  1821 
to  1836. 

Mr.  Powers  has  a  tall  and  slender  figure.  He  shows  an  energetic 
and  somewhat  impulsive  and  nervous  activity  at  all  times.  His  head 
and  face  are  small,  but  they  have  very  mai-ked  characteristics.  The 
whole  expression  of  the  face  is  intellectual,  and  the  full  high  brow  is 
especially  noticeable  in  this  connection.  It  is  readily  to  be  seen  that 
he  is  a  man  of  large  and  active  brain  power.  His  countenance  also 
shows  decision  and  earnestness,  a  love  of  honor  and  truth,  and  a 
genial  and  cheerful  temperament  He  has  light  complexion  and  hair, 
and  wears  whiskers  and  a  moustache.  His  eyesight  has  been  affected 
by  close  study,  and  he  wears  spectacles  constantl^y  His  manners  are 
friendly  and  candid,  and  his  conversation  is  animated  and  interest- 
ing. 

He  is  a  man  between  whom  and  other  men  there  is  never  the 
slightest  barrier  to  good  feeling  and  brotherly  love.  Fair,  frank,  un- 
suspicious in  his  own  character  and  feelings,  he  throws  himself  with- 
out reserve  or  hesitation  upon  like  characteristics  in  others.  If  you 
have  them  not  he  will  awaken  them ;  for  his  good-nature,  his  kind- 
ness of  manner,  and  his  friendliness  of  sentiment  will  thaw  a  heart 
of  ice.  He  has  very  little,  if  any,  policy  ;  he  is  free  and  unguarded 
in  his  opinions,  and  his  sincerity  toward  you  cannot  be  doubted. 
Under  these  circumstances,  and  with  these  peculiarities  of  character, 
he  wins  friendship  and  love,  and  he,  at  the  same  time,  kindles  your 
heart  and  mind  to  a  realization  of  the  same  fond  impulses  which  draw 
him  to  every  man  as  a  friend  and  brother.  If  there  are  studied  rules 
of  deportment,  and  if  there  are  words  which  must  be  measured  to 
suit  the  drift  of  human  policy,  he  knows  nothing  about  them,  and, 
in  fact,  despises  them.  In  his  contact  with  men  he  is  as  simple  as  a 
child.  The  laugh  that  is  in  him  must  come  out,  and  the  tear  that 
has  bubbled  from  his  heart  he  is  not  ashamed  to  let  fall.  He  aims  to 
be  natural  to  the  heart's  true  impulses,  and  to  be  honest  in  language 
and  in  deed.  He  requires  no  study  from  the  observer,  for  every  word 
and  every  action  is  a  truth-teller  of  his  character  and  nature.  Of  a 
character  humble  and  devout,  and  noble  and  true  ;  of  a  nature  simple 
and  trusting,  and  just  and  loving.  In  genial  social  attributes,  and  in 
simplicity  and  sincerity  of  character,  he  is  a  marked  example  among 
men. 

Mr.  Powers  is  no  ordinary  preacher.     He  has  a  mind  of  his  own 

443 


REV.      HENRY     POWERS. 

on  tlieological  matters,  and  his  sermons  show  the  origmal  thinker 
in  a  striking  degree.  He  has  gone  deep  in  his  scholarly  investiga 
tions,  and  he  has  delved  to  dispute  as  well  as  to  learn.  He  gTapples 
with  abstruse  questions  with  the  nerve  aud  intelligence  of  an  oldei- 
scholar,  and  those  who  hear  or  read  his  meditations,  are  profoundly 
impressed  with  his  learned  conclusions.  Hence  all  bis  sermons  are 
scholcirly  j^roductions.  They  show  thought  and  feeling.  They  have 
a  beauty  and  a  force  of  diction  which  are  very  captivating  in  them- 
selves: but  it  is  their  originality,  their  strong  and  logical  arguments, 
and  their  thorougli  infusion  of  Christian  love  and  hope,  which  so 
greatly  impress  the  heai-er.  He  is  eloquent  and  at  times  impassioned. 
Fancy,  at  his  bidding,  takes  a  wide  flight  in  all  its  realm  of 
beauty,  and  his  earnest  and  ardent  heart  gives  the  glow  of  feeling 
and  sincerity  to  every  word.  But  he  makes  this  but  incidental  to 
the  performance.  His  power  of  mind  is  thrown  into  the  argument, 
and  he  levels  his  shafts  at  the  mind  of  the  listener.  He  wishes  not 
so  much  to  melt  the  heart  as  to  instruct  aud  convince  the  reason. 
Consequently  he  is  an  intellectual  preacher  in  the  fullest  sense,  giv- 
ing time  and  thought  to  the  preparation  of  his  sermons,  and  seeking 
to  make  them  something  more  than  a  mere  part  of  the  church 
exercises.  And  he  succeeds  pretty  well  in  this.  He  sends  Ins 
hearers  away  with  material  for  many  an  after  hour  of  reflection. 
He  gives  the  rules  for  moral  and  religious  government,  but  more 
especially  he  incites  them  to  an  intellectual  view  of  human  destiny 
and  salvation. 

A  hard  worker  with  his  physical  and  mental  energies,  and  seek- 
ing a  wide  and  beneficent  influence  in  the  theological  world,  he  is 
gathering  strength  which  will  undoubtedly  place  him  in  the  foremost 
rank  of  the  popular  preachers  and  thinkers  of  his  times.  At  no 
distant  day  he  also  designs  to  take  the  field  of  theological  autlior- 
ship. 

444 


EEY.  GEORGE  L.  PRENTISS,  D.  D., 

L^TE    P^VSTOK    OF    THE    CHTJIiCII    OF    THE     <:OV- 
EIV^iNT,    (I»KESI3YTa3KlA]V,)    ]VE\V^     ITOKIv. 


EY.  Dr.  GEOEGE  L.  PRENTISS  was  born  at  Gorham, 
Maine,  May  12tlj,  1816.      His  early  studies  were  at  the 
)!^  academy  of  his  native  place,  then   under   the  charge  of 
_^  Rev.  Reuben  Mason,  a  noted  Congregational  minister  of 

\^  that  day.  Having  entered  Bowdoin  College,  he  was  graduated 
^  in  1835.  During  the  two  years  following  he  was  engaged  as 
an  assistant  teacher  in  the  Gorham  Academy  and  in  a  visit  to  the 
Southwest,  where  he  had  a  brother,  the  celebrated  statesman  and 
orator,  S.  S.  Prentiss.  In  1838  he  went  abroad  and  passed  between 
three  and  four  years  in  study  and  travel.  About  two  years  were 
occupied  in  a  theological  course  at  the  universities  of  Halle  and 
Berlin.  Returning  to  the  United  States,  he  was  licensed  as  a  Con- 
gregational minister  by  the  Cumberland  Association  of  Ministers,  in 
1844,  and  ordained  and  installed  in  the  spring  of  1845  at  the  New 
Bedford  Trinitarian  Church.  He  remained  in  this  position  until  the 
autumn  of  1850,  when  be  transferred  his  labor  to  the  Second  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  for  a  short  period.  On 
April  30th,  1851,  he  took  charge  of  the  Mercer  Street  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  New  York,  where  he  remained  until  May  3d,  1858,  when 
ill-health  obliged  him  to  resign  his  pastorship.  The  congregation 
made  a  liberal  jDrovision  for  him,  and  he  went  abroad,  spending  two 
years  in  Switzerland,  France  and  England.  During  the  winter  of 
1859-60  he  ofdciated  at  the  American  Chapel  in  Paris.  He  returned 
to  the  United  States  in  the  autumn  of  the  latter  year. 

He  now  determined  to  found  a  new  church  of  the  New  School 
Presbyterian  faith  in  the  upper  part  of  New  York,  and  commenced 
his  services  on  the  last  Sunday  in  November,  1860,  in  the  chapel  of 
the  Home  of  the  Friendless,  in  East  Twenty-ninth  street,  and  subse- 
quently held  them  at  Dodworth  Siudio  Hall,  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue 

and  Thii-ty-sixth  street.     On  March  21st,  1862,  the  Church  of  the 

•145 


REV.      GEORGE     L.     PRENTISS       D.  D. 

Covenant  was  organized,  and  in  November,  1863,  the  corner-stone 
of  a  church  edifice  was  laid  on  the  corner  of  Park  Avenue  and 
Thirty-fifth  street.  Here  a  magnificent  stone  structure  has  been 
erected,  which  in  beauty  of  external  and  internal  design,  spacious- 
ness and  general  completeness,  is  equal  to  any  church  in  the  city. 
The  cost  of  the  site,  building  and  organ  was  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  church  was  dedicated  April  30th, 
1865. 

The  congregation  has  erected  a  Memorial  Chapel  on  Forty-second 
street,  near  Second  avenue.  It  is  for  a  mission  work,  and  intended 
as  a  memorial  of  the  union  of  the  Old  and  New  School  branches  of 
the  Presbyterian  church.  The  building  embraces  a  reading-room, 
library,  and  class-rooms,  and  cost  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

Dr.  Prentiss  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Bowdoin  College 
about  1854.  He  is  the  author  of  a  memoir  of  S.  S.  Prentiss,  and 
has  published  a  variety  of  sermons  and  addresses.  He  accepted  the 
chair  of  Theology  in  the  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary  of  the 
Northwest,  at  Chicago,  having  been  elected  by  the  General  Assenxbly, 
but  subsequently  declined  it.  On  the  27th  of  April,  1873,  he 
preached  a  farewell  sermon  before  his  congregation,  having  accepted 
a  recently  endowed  chair  of  Pastoral  Theology,  Church  Polity  and 
Missionary  Work,  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York. 

We  take  the  fv>llowing  eloquent  extract  ii-om  an  address  deliv- 
ered before  the  Association  of  the  Alumni  of  Bowdoin  College, 
August  8th,  1861 : 

"This  great  American  system  of  liberty  and  social  order,  like  our  mother 
tongue,  is  a  marvellous  composite  of  old  and  new.  It  is  enriched  by  the  spoils  of 
all  time.  Hardly  any  great  State,  ancient  or  modern,  but  has  contributed  something 
to  its  generous  and  fair  proportions.  What  would  it  be  if  bereft  of  all  it  owes  to 
ihe  legislation  of  Moses  and  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  ;  to  the  democratic  spirit, 
literature,  and  heroic  examj^les  of  Greece  ;  or  to  the  laws  and  jurisprudence  of 
republican  and  imperial  Rome  ?  It  strikes  its  roots  deep  into  mediaeval  and  early 
Christian  ages.  The  best  polities  of  modern  Europe  helped  to  form  it.  The 
fountain  from  which  it  drew,  and  still  draws,  its  holiest  principles  and  inspiration, 
is  the  New  Testament. 

' '  Never  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  was  a  people  allowed  ampler  scope 
freely  to  avail  itself  of  all  the  lights  of  history,  and  all  the  aids  of  reflection,  in 
constructing  a  system  of  national  polity;  and  never  had  a  people  a  richer  experience 
of  its  own,  or  a  more  invaluable  body  of  existing  laws  aud  institutions  wherewith 
to  give  harmony,  strength,  and  perpetuity  to  the  new  structure.  For,  undoubtedly, 
the  power  which  above  all  others  inspired  and  shaped  our  republican  system  was 
the  old  Anglican  liberty  which  our  fathers  brought  with  them  across  the  ocean. 
This,  together  with  the  institutions  which  have  given  it  its  manellous  vitality  aud 

U6 


REV.      GEORGE     L.     PRENTISS,     D.  D. 

strength  in  the  mother  country,  such  as  municipal  aud  local  self-government,  the 
town  meeting,  the  county  court,  popular  suffrage  and  representation,  the  common 
law,  the  constable,  trial  by  jury,  the  local  church,  the  college,  the  Puritan  Sabbath, 
and  the  old  English  Bible — this  was  and  is  the  noblest  substance  of  our  national 
life.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  our  liberty  is  the  fruit  of  the  Revolutionary 
war.  In  that  war  we  fought  for  and  won  our  independence  ;  but  our  most  important 
liberties  are  a  venerable  heirloom  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  They  were  won  for  ua 
at  Runnymede,  and  on  many  a  later  field  renowned  in  the  aanals  of  British  free- 
dom. They  were  among  those  '  true,  ancient,  and  indubitable  rights  aud  liberties ' 
of  the  people  of  England,  asserted  and  claimed  in  their  memorable  Bill  ol  Rights. 
Our  Declaration  of  Independence  was  virtually  a  re-assertion  of  these  same  'ancient 
rights  and  liberties.'  The  Articles  of  Confederation  were  an  attempt  to  combine 
and  establish  them  in  a  'perpetual  union,'  and  finally  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  organized  them  into  our  present  sj'stem  of  national  government.  But,  al- 
though the  substance  of  our  liberties  was  the  most  precious  inheritance  which  the 
infant  nation  brought  with  it,  I  need  not  say  how  greatly  they  were  incrensed  and 
invigorated  under  the  hardy  discipline  of  the  colonial  period  and  during  the  tem- 
ble  trials  of  the  War  of  Independence,  or  how,  when  the  time  was  fully  ripe,  they 
were  at  length  perfected  in  the  great  Constitution  under  which  we  now  live.  This 
Constitution  was  the  work  of  men  pre-eminent  for  public  wisdom,  zeal,  prudence, 
and  magnanimity — men  deeply  versed  in  the  philosophy  of  government, 

"   '  Looking  before  and  after — ' 

"Long  reflection,  aided  by  much  study  and  experience,  had  endowed  them  with 
a  political  sagacity  almost  intuitive  ;  and  in  all  this  they  only  represented  the  en- 
lightened popular  instincts  of  the  countrj^  A  more  upright,  single-hearted, 
admirable  body  of  patriots  never  sat  in  council.  They  were  worthy  to  be  presided 
over  by  Washington. 

"  '  Great  men  were  then  among  us  ;  hands  that  penned, 
And  tongues  that  uttered  wisdom  ;  better  none. 

»♦********• 

They  knew  how  genuine  glory  was  put  on  ; 
Taught  us  how  rightfully  a  nation  shone 
In  splendor.'  " 

Dr.  Prentiss  is  above  the  medium  height,  rather  spaie,  erect,  and 
full  of  activity.  His  head  is  more  long  than  round,  with  a  thin  face, 
and  small,  well-molded  features.  His  forehead  is  particularly  con- 
spicuous from  its  heighth  and  breadth,  and  shows  him  to  be  a  man 
of  large  mental  capacity.  He  has  small,  deep-set  light  eyes,  of  a 
gentle  expression,  but  which  have  a  great  deal  of  fire  and  decision  in 
them  when  the  feelings  are  called  into  action.  He  exhibits  consider- 
able reserve  and  dignity,  but  he  is  readily  approachable  to  all,  and 
is  not  wanting  in  genial  and  social  characteristics. 

Dr.  Prentiss  is  a  man  of  most  extensive  learning,  and,  in  fact, 
one  of  the  ablest  American  minds  of  the  da}^  His  studies  have 
been  varied,  and  his  researches  have  had  that  enlarged  scope  which 

M7 


REV.     GEOKGE     L.     PRENTISS,     D.  D. 

men  give  to  tliem  only  when  sustained  by  tireless  energies  and  the 
clear,  grasping  mind.  Whatever  he  has  done  in  the  way  of  learning 
has  been  done  thoroughly,  and  now  in  the  prime  of  his  life  he  is 
recognized  as  a  profound  thinker,  not  only  on  theological,  but  all 
the  learned  and  current  subjects  of  the  day. 

When  you  see  him  in  the  pulpit,  you  are  struck  with  his  digni- 
fied, intellectual  appearance,  but  he  no  sooner  speaks  than  you  begin 
to  doubt  his  having  anything  more  than  ordinary  ability.  His  voice 
at  first  is  weak,  and  has  a  very  decided  lisp,  and  altogether  he  seems 
a  man  but  little  calculated  to  address  a  public  audience  with  effect. 
But  as  you  listen  you  become  aware  that  his  discourse  is  a  composi- 
tion written  with  unusual  care,  and  in  which  there  is  great  choiceness 
and  force  of  language ;  and  then  as  he  warms  with  his  theme  his 
voice  has  more  power,  and  the  lis]3  almost  disappears.  His  argu- 
ments are  those  not  merely  of  a  man  thoroughly  versed  in  his  sub- 
ject, but  of  one  bold  enougli  to  say  what  he  thinks  and  feels  ;  and, 
while  there  are  constant  passages  of  smoothly  worded  and  inspiring 
eloquence,  there  is  likewise  full  evidence  that  every  word  has  been 
weighed  to  give  it  the  most  complete  force  of  moral  and  religious 
expression.  In  truth,  his  discourse  is  found  to  have  everything  of 
literary  ability  in  it,  as  its  delivery  has  much  that  is  of  the  highest 
order  of  oratorical  excellence;  but  the  strength  and  power  of  the 
appeal  comes,  after  all,  less  from  these  than  froni  its  solemn  moral 
and  religious  tone. 

The  question  with  regard  to  Dr.  Prentiss,  as  with  every  other 
public  man,  is  what  has  he  contributed,  by  his  talents  and  toil,  to 
the  benefit  of  his  race?  The  answer  is  the  marked  success  of  a 
ministry  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  culminating  in  the  founding  of 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  opulent  churches  of  New  York,  and 
such  contributions  of  thought  to  the  theological,  political,  and  secu- 
lar literature  of  his  time  as  will  maintain  t':eir  place  for  generations 
living  and  yet  to  come. 

448 


PiEV.  THOMAS  S.  PRESTON, 

f»i4.©TOK  OF  TH-E    CHURCH   OF   ST.    A.]ViV,   (C^THO- 
I-.IC,)    INEAV  YOIllt. 


EV.  THOMAS  S.  PRESTON  vvas  born  in  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  in  1824:.     He   was  graduated  with  distin- 
guished honors  at  Trinity  College,  Hartfoi'd,  and  was  or- 
dained a  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
184:6.     Subsequently  he  was  assistant  minister  at  the  Church  of 
«25     the  Annunciation   (Dr.   Seabury's),  New  York  City,  and  at  St 
Luke's  Church,  of  which  the  well-known  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Forbes 
was  then  the  rector. 

At  that  period  the  Episcopal  Church  in  this  country  was  greatly 
agitated  by  the  sectarian  movement  of  Dr.  Pusey  of  England.  Ya- 
rious  prominent  clergymen  were  led  to  embrace  Catholicism,  and 
among  these  were  both  the  subject  of  this  notice  and  Dr.  Forbes, 
who  were  received  into  the  communion  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  in  1849.  In  1850,  Mr.  Preston  was  ordained  a  priest  and 
appointed  as  assistant  pastor  at  the  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  In  1855 
he  was  appointed  Chancellor  of  the  diocese,  a  position  which  he 
still  holds. 

Dr.  Forbes  had  been  appointed  pastor  of  St  Ann's  Church  ;  but 
in  1859,  liC  withdrew  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  returned  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  In  1861  Father  Preston  was 
appointed  to. St  Ann's,  and  for  twelve  years  has  discharged  the 
duties  with  remarkable  efficiency,  in  connection  with  those  of  Chan- 
cellor. Finding  a  few  years  since  that  the  Church  and  school  build- 
ings, on  Eighth  street  and  Fourth  Avenue,  did  not  provide  sufl&cient 
accomodation  for  the  wants  of  the  important  parish,  he  effected  the 
purchase  of  the  Temple  Emanuel,  of  the  Jewish  congregation  to 
which  it  belonged,  in  Twelfth  street,  with  other  property  in  the  rear. 
The  building  was  altered  and  improved,  and  a  fine  school  building 
erected.     The  congregation  is  numerous  and  flourishing. 

The  history  of  the  Roman  Catholic  sect  in  the  city  of  New  York 


REV.     THOMAS     S.     PRESTON. 

may  here  be  briefly  given.  As  early  as  1629,  tbere  were  Catholics 
on  Manhattan  Island.  However,  in  1696,  a  census  taken  by  the  Mayor 
to  see  how  many  of  the  faith  were  in  the  city,  discovered  only  nine 
persons.  Very  severe  laws  were  enacted  against  the  Catholics,  as 
well  as  the  Quakers,  Jews,  and  other  sects.  Some  of  the  imported 
negro  slaves  are  said  to  have  been  Catholics.  John  Ury,  who  was 
executed  for  participation  in  the  celebrated  Negro  Plot  to  burn  the 
city  in  1741,  was  charged  with  being  a  Catholic  priest,  a  crime  not 
less  criminal  in  the  province.  He  was  a  schoolmaster  of  before  ir- 
reproachable character,  and  was  convicted  on  very  shallow  testimony. 
Governor  Clark  wrote  a  letter,  stating  that  the  Spaniards  were  send- 
ing Jesuits  into  the  country,  disguised  as  schoolmasters  and  dancing- 
masters,  to  create  revolt  among  the  negroes,  and  advised  the  con- 
viction of  Ury.  This  man  undoubtedly  died  the  first  religions  martyr 
in  the  New  World.  An  old  chronicler  says,  "  Eomau  Catholics,  and  the 
cry  of  '  Church  and  State  in  danger'  were  often  witnessed  on  elec- 
tion and  other  occasions  in  New  York,  also  '  high  and  low  Church' 
were  resounded.  'No  bishop' could  be  seen  in  capitols,  on  fences, 
etc.  A  man  did  not  dare  to  avow  him  a  Catholic,  it  was  odious  ;  a 
chapel  then  would  have  been  pulled  down." 

The  French  Jesuit  missionaries  from  Canada,  preached  among  each 
tribe  of  the  great  Five  Nations  of  Indians  in  the  province  of  New 
York,  and  converted  thousands  of  them.  In  1683,  under  Governor 
Dougan,  a  Catholic,  the  desires  of  the  people  for  a  popular  govern- 
ment were  gratified.  The  first  general  assembly  was  convoked,  and 
the  rights  of  religious  belief  were  guaranteed.  Dougan  also  founded 
a  college  and  brought  English  Jesuits  thereto.  Under  him  also  an 
Irish  colony  settled  in  New  York.  In  1777,  owing  to  the  influence 
of  John  Jay,  an  article  was  inserted  in  the  State  Constitution  declar- 
ing that  no  Papist  could  be  naturalized.  The  first  Catholic  Church, 
St  Peter's,  was  built  in  1786  on  Barclay  street,  when  there  were 
some  two  hundi-ed  Catholics  in  the  city.  For  thirty  years  St.  Peter's 
was  the  only  Catholic  Church,  when  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  was 
built  on  the  corner  of  Mott  and  Prince  streets.  In  1820  Christ 
Church  on  Ann  street  became  a  Catholic  Church,  then  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  on  Chamber  street,  the  Universalist  on  Astor  place, 
and  then  the  Presbyterian  on  the  same  street.  In  1826,  the  number 
of  Catholics  had  increased  to  thirty-five  thousand,  who  had  the  ser- 
vices of  four  priests.  The  See  of  New  York  was  erected  in  1808, 
and  raised  to  the  dignity  of  an  Archbishopric  in  1850.     The  first 

450 


REV.     THOMAS     S.      PRESTON. 

Bishop,  Eight  Rev.  Luke  Congannon,  O.  P.  was  consecrated  April 
24th,  1808,  and  died  January  3d,  1810.  Right  Rev.  John  Connolly,  O. 
P.  was  consecrated  Bishop  November  16th,  1814,  and  died  July,  1825; 
Right  Rev.  John  Dubois,  D.  D,,  was  consecrated  October,  1826,  and 
died  January,  1842  ;  Most  Rev.  John  Hughes,  D.  D.,  was  consecrated 
Co-Adjutor  Bishop  January  7th,  1838,  created  first  Archbishop  1850, 
and  died  Jan.  3d,  1864.  The  present  Archbishop,  Most  Rev.  John  Mc 
Closkey,  D.  D.,  was  consecrated  Co-Adjutor  to  Right  Rev.  John 
Hughes,  D.  D.,  transferred  to  the  diocese  of  Albany  May  21st,  1847, 
and  succeeded  to  the  See  of  New  York  May  6th,  1864.  In  1840 
the  number  of  churches  in  the  city  was  seven,  in  1850  eighteen,  in 
1860  twenty- nine,  and  in  1873  forty -one.  At  the  last  named  date 
there  were  m.ore  than  one  hundred  priests  officiating  in  the  city,  and 
two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  in  the  whole  diocese,  and  between  four 
and  five  hundred  thousand  worshipers  attended  the  city  churches. 

Father  Preston  has  published  several  religious  and  devotional 
works.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  ''  Controversy  of  Reason 
and  Revelation,"  "  Lectures  on  Christian  unity,"  and  a  volume  of 
sermons. 

It  has  never  been  doubted  by  those  who  are  aware  of  the  ability  of 
the  man,  that  the  Protestant  Church  lost  much  in  both  clerical  schol- 
arship and  efficiency  by  the  secession  of  Father  Preston.  This  has 
also  been  fully  established  by  what  he  has  accomplished  in  the  com- 
munion of  Rome.  He  has  not  been  satisfied  to  be  simply  a  worker  in 
the  line  of  his  priestly  duties,  but  he  has  become  one  of  the  most  ag- 
gressive and  learned  champions  of  her  faith.  True  and  humble  in 
his  servitude  to  her  doctrines,  and  the  obligations  imposed  upon  him, 
joyous  and  zealous  in  his  convictions,  though  a  convert  from  Protest- 
antism, he  has  made  use  of  his  learning  as  a  theologian  most  effect- 
ually, for  the  upholding  of  her  tenets,  and  the  enlargement  of  her 
flocks. 

He  writes  with  the  ease  and  force  which  come  from  natural  gifts, 
learning,  and  personal  sympathy  with  his  theme.  He  always  is  the 
master  of  his  subject,  and  his  sincere  and  ai'dent  feelings  are  not  less 
involved  and  expressed.  As  a  preacher  he  is  eloquent  and  devout 
He  speaks  in  tenderness,  and  with  the  glow  of  enthusiasm,  but  with 
positiveness  of  assertion.  Indifferent  to  all  labor,  he  is  one  of  the 
most  far-seeing  and  industrious  of  the  whole  priesthood  in  New  York. 
He  has  a  round  head,  with  regular  features ;  in  his  maunei'S  he  is 

plain  and  frank,  and  in  his  tempermeut  he  is  cheerful  and  hopeful. 

451 


REV.  JOSEPH  H.  PRICE,  D.  D, 


EY.  DR.  JOSEPH  H.  PEICB  was  born  in  Boston.     He 

:^  was  graduated  at  Brown  CJniversity,  Providence,  in  1825, 

Wl^^^^  and  pursued  a  theological   course  privately  in  Boston, 

^S^^""""      vfith  Bishops  Doane  and  Alonzo  Potter,  then  rectors  of 

■^  churches  in  that  city.     He  was  ordained  a  deacon  of  the  Epis- 

^    copal  church  in  1829,  and  priest  in  1830.     About  two  years 

were  spent  in  missionary  labor  in  different  parts  of  Massachusetts, 

and  in  the  temporary  supply  of  the  pulpits  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 

Salem,  and  Grace  Church,  Providence.     An  invitation  to  Gardiner, 

Maine,  and  another  to  Portland,  were  declined  during  the  same  period. 

After  being  assistant  of  Dr.  Hawk,  at  St.  Thomas',  New  York,  he 

accepted  a  call  to  St  Paul's,  Albanj^  about  1833,  where  he  remained 

three  years  and  a  half     In  July,   1837,   he  became  rector  at  St 

Stephen's  Church,  New  York,  which  is  his  position  at  this  time.     St 

Stephen's  parish  was  organized  in   1805,  by  persons  who  withdrew 

from  Zion  Church,  then  in  Mott  street,  and  selected  for  their  first 

rector  a  Mr.  Shoebeck.     The  late  Bishop  Moore,  of  Virginia,  was  also 

rector  for  some  five  years.     Some  years  since  the  church,  an  ancient 

looking  brick  building  on  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Chrystie  s  reets, 

was  sold.     The  congregation  now   worship  in  an  edifice  purchased 

by  them,  in  West  Forty-sixth  street,  in  1873,  of  the  church  of  the 

Advent,  the  two  congregations  becoming  united. 

Dr.  Price  is  an  active  man  in  his  denomination,  and    belongs  to 

what  is  known  as  the   high  church   party.     A  warm  partisan  of  the 

late  Bishop  Benj.   T.   Onderdonk,   he  is  still  a  disbeliever  in  the 

charges  for  which  that  prelate  was  suspended.     He  was  president  of 

the  diocesan  convention  of  1801,  and  represented  the  diocese  in  the 

general  convention  of  1863.     He  has  been  president  of  the  Missionary 

Committee,  and  is  now  chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee,  and 

ti"ustee  of  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Seminary,  vice-president 

452 


EEV.     JOSEPH     H.     PRICE,     D.  D. 

of  the  Bible  and  Common  Prayer  Book  Society  and  Tract  Society, 
and  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Church  Book 
Society,     His  degree  of  D.  D.  was  received  from  Columbia  College. 

Dr.  Price  is  above  the  average  height,  and  of  venerable  appearance. 
His  head  is  one  of  the  round,  trim-looking  sort,  with  silver-gray  hair, 
well-marked  features,  and  a  most  agreeable  countenance.  He  looks 
as  he  is,  a  man  of  intelligence,  frank,  unassuming  manners,  and  a 
good  heart.  He  is  social  and  cheerful,  showing  that  neither  the  frosts 
of  age  nor  the  experience  of  a  prolonged  life  have  in  any  manner 
affected  spirits  naturally  genial.  When  he  meets  you  he  has  a 
pleasant  smile  and  a  warm  grasp  of  the  hand,  and  even  a  stranger 
can  feel  no  reserve  with  him.  Then  there  is  such  freedom  from  all 
disguise  in  his  sentiments,  and  he  is  so  chatty  and  kindly,  that  he 
secures  not  only  attention,  but  regard.  A  conscientious  Chi-istian  in 
all  his  habits  and  intercourse,  he  is  not  lacking  in  the  due  practice  of 
those  other  qualities  which  best  display  the  gentleman  and  man. 

Dr.  Price's  sermons  are  excellent  moral  lessons.  His  delivery  is 
rapid,  and  his  voice  is  loud.  He  is  almost  without  gesture  of  any 
kind.  As  a  teacher  of  truths,  and  as  a  guide  in  all  the  proprieties 
of  morals  and  religion,  as  well  as  a  genial  associate  in  the  private 
walks  of  life,  he  is  greatly  valued. 

453 


REV.  SAMUEL  IRENMS  PRIME,  D.  D., 

EDITOH    OF    THE   IVEHV    YORIt   OBSERVER. 


lEV.  DR.  SAMUEL  IREN^US  PRIME  was  born  at 
Ballston,  Saratoga  County,  New  York,  November  4tli, 
1812.  He  is  an  elder  brother  of  the  well-known  antlioi*, 
William  C.  Pi-ime,  At  the  age  of  thirteen  years  he  entered 
Williams  College,  and  was  graduated  in  1829.  Having 
concluded  a  course  at  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church ;  but,  in  1840, 
from  ill-health,  was  obliged  to  abandon  regular  preaching.  He  then 
became  associated  in  the  editorial  charge  of  the  New  York  Observer, 
one  of  the  chief  organs  of  the  Presbyterian  denomination.  For  more 
than  thirty  years  his  able  pen  has  been  employed  editorially,  and  as 
a  literary  contributor  and  traveling  correspondent  in  this  paper.  His 
contributions,  under  the  signature  of  "  Irenaeus,"  have  had  great  pop- 
ularity, and  under  his  management  the  Observer  has  taken  the  rank 
of  one  of  the  leading  religious  journals,  and  been  also  noted  for  its 
conservative  political  views.  In  1855,  he  published  "Travels  in 
Europe  and  the  East,"  in  two  volumes,  and  a  work  on  Switzerland. 
These  v/orks  were  the  results  of  an  extended  journey  in  Europe  and 
Asia,  in  1853.  He  is  also  the  author  of  several  volumes  of  a  religious 
character,  including  "Thoughts  on  the  death  of  Little  Children,"  and 
"The  Power  of  Prayer."  The  last  named  is  a  sketch  of  the  Fulton 
Street  Prayer  Meeting,  in  New  York,  and  has  been  translated  into 
several  European  languages.  More  recently  he  has  traveled  exten- 
sively in  other  directions,  and  written  another  fascinating  volume, 
entitled  "The  Alhambra  and  the  Kremlin — The  South  and  the 
North  of  Europe."  Another  recent  book  is  called  "  Under  the 
Trees."  He  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  having  charge  of  the 
meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in   New  York,  in  1873,  and 

454 


REV.     SAMUEL    IREN^US    PRIME,    D.  D. 

much  of  the  success  of  that  great  Christian  gatliering  was  due  to 
his  efforts.  In  May,  1874,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents 
of  the  American  Tract  Society  in  the  place  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner 
Spring,  deceased. 

During  all  the  years  of  his  retirement  from  the  active  ministry, 
Dr.  Prime  has  occasionally  preached,  sometimes,  indeed,  supplying 
the  pulpits  of  absent  ministers  for  a  considerable  period.  His  learn- 
ing and  literary  gifts  make  his  sermons  highly  attractive,  and  his 
services  have  been  eagerly  sought  for  in  the  manner  stated.  But  his 
chief  popularity  has  arisen  from  his  writings  in  the  Observer^  and  his 
books.  In  the  first  his  stjde  is  clear  and  vigorous,  with  the  intro- 
duction of  an  exquisite  humor  in  some  of  his  lighter  articles ;  and 
in  the  second  he  writes  with  most  brilliant  descriptive  powers,  mak- 
ing every  scene  and  object  as  vivid  as  apt  and  graceful  language  can 
depict  it,  and  treating  all  moral  and  social  questions  with  a  deep, 
philosophical  reflectiveness. 

In  appearance  he  is  about  of  the  medium  height  and  sparely  made. 
His  head  is  of  the  intellectual  type,  with  a  face  of  exceeding  amiabil- 
ity. His  manners  are  unassuming  and  polite,  and  he  is  of  an  unusually 
cheerful,  genial  disposition.  He  is  fond  of  social  life,  especially  with 
high-bred  and  Christian  people,  and  on  such  occasions  is  the  life  of  the 
circle.  The  country  and  flowers,  and  children,  and  everything  that 
is  beautiful  and  pure,  attract  and  delight  him.  His  far-ofi"  travels, 
his  rambles  at  home,  his  association  with  the  high  and  learned  of  al- 
most all  lands,  his  scholarly  attainments,  and  his  literary  talents,  are 
all  matters  which  serve  to  give  a  charm  and  influence  to  his  society. 
Those  who  know  him  intimately,  esteem  and  love  him,  while  by  the 
public  at  large  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  strong  men  for  all  good 

works. 

455 


REV.  JAMES  M.  PULLMAN, 

orixJiiciT,    ivE^v  Yortxt. 


lEV.  JAMES  M.  PULLMAN  was  born  at  Portland, 
Chatauque  conntj,  New  York,  August  21st,  1886.  His 
early  academic  studies  were  under  Rev.  Dr.  French,  at  the 
Albion  Academy,  Albion,  Orleans  cotmty.  He  studied 
^^  theology  at  the  St.  Lawrence  Divinity  School,  at  Canton,  where 
^  he  was  graduated  in  1861.  Having  accepted  a  call  to  the  First 
TJniversalist  Church  of  Troy,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  to  its 
pastorship  in  May,  1862.  His  ministrations  were  very  successful  in 
this  field,  and  he  remained  in  it  for  s'x  years  and  eleven  months. 
About  this  period  the  Sixth  society  of  New  York  was  obliged  to 
give  up  their  pastor,  the  Rev.  Elbridge  Gerry  Brooks,  who  had  ac- 
cepted a  position  in  connection  with  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  Mr. 
Pullman  received  a  call  to  this  church.  He  accepted,  and  entered 
upon  his  duties  in  March,  1868. 

Universalism  was  first  preached  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  Rev. 
John  Murray,  in  September,  1770,  which  had  then  a  population  of 
fifteen  or  eigliteen  thousand.  He  preached  in  the  Baptist  Meeting 
House  on  "  Golden  Hill,"  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present 
Gold  street.  It  is  stated  that  he  had  large  congregations,  and  on  his  re- 
turn to  preach  again  in  the  following  year  was  received  with  great 
enthusiasm.  He  made  a  third  visit,  but  declined  to  remain  perma- 
nently. After  the  close  of  the  revolution,  two  eminent  physicians  of 
the  city.  Dr.  Joseph  Young  and  Dr.  William  Pitt  Smith,  published 
books  against  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery.  In  1793  the  first 
TJniversalist  periodical  ever  published  in  America  was  issued  in  New 
York,  called  The  Free  Universal  Magazine^  of  which  two  numbers 
were  issued  in  New  York,  and  two  afterward  in  Baltimore. 

Prior  to  1800,  Rev.  Edward  Mitchell,  a  seceder  from  the  Metho- 
dists, established  a  new  congregation  called  "  The  Society  of  United 

Christian  Friends,"  who  held  to  the  doctrine  of  the  final  salvation  of 

456 


REV.     JAMES     M.      PULLMAN. 

all  mankind,  but  were  never  in  actual  fellowship  with  the  Univer- 
salist  denomination.  At  first  they  worshiped  in  Vandewater  street ; 
and  subsequently  a  church  was  created  for  their  use  in  Magazine 
(now  Pearl)  street,  between  Broadway  and  Chatham  street.  This 
was  the  first  church  ever  built  in  the  State  of  New  York  dedicated 
to  the  service  of  God  as  the  Saviour  of  all  men.  Mr.  Mitchell 
preached  with  success,  and  a  large  church  was  erected  at  the  corner 
of  Duane  street  and  City  Hall  Place.  Mr.  Mitchell  died  in  1835,  and 
the  Society  then  called  Rev.  Mr.  Pickering;  but  it  declined  in  num- 
bers, and  finally  became  extinct 

This  Mr.  Mitchell  was  an  eloquent  man,  and  his  preaching  was 
one  of  the  sensations  of  that  day.  In  a  Fast-day  sermon  preached 
during  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever,  in  1822,  by  the  celebrated 
E,ev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  then  a  minister  of  the  city,  he  gave  as  one 
reason  for  the  prevalence  of  the  fever  that  "  Universalism  was  in  its 
meridian  in  New  York,"  and  said  "  there  were  thousands  who  be- 
lieved but  would  not  avow  it :  that  the  preachers  were  murderers  of 
men's  souls,  making  men  the  m^ost  profligate  while  living  and  the 
most  desperate  sinners  when  they  die."  One  of  Mr.  Mitchell's  ser- 
mons was  sent  to  the  Doctor,  with  a  request  that  he  would  examine 
it,  and  point  out  everything  he  might  find  in  it  "  calculated  to  bring 
down  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  city.''  The  sermon  was  returned 
with  the  leaves  uncut,  and  in  the  same  envelope  in  which  it  was  sent, 
with  these  words  upon  it :'' Procul,  0 procul,  esie profani!''  which 
means,  "  Far  away,  O  far  away,  ye  profane !" 

In  June  of  the  same  year  Mrs.  Marie  Townsend  was  excommuni- 
cated from  Dr.  Spring's  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  on  account  of 
her  faith  in  Universalism.  The  Session  passed  the  following  sen- 
tence : 

"Whereas,  Marie  Townsend  had  been,  by  sufficient  proof,  convicted  of  persever-- 
ing  disbelief  of  the  doctrines  of  the  everlasting  punishment  of  the  wicked,  and, 
after  much  admonition  and  prayer,  obstinately  refusing  to  hear  the  Church,  and 
hath  manifested  no  evidence  of  repentance;  therefore,  in  the  name  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  this  Session  pronounce  her  to  be  excluded  from 
the  communion  of  the  Church." 

Dr.  Spring  pronounced  the  excommunication  from  the  pulpit  on 
the  following  Sunday  in  these  words : 

"  It  has  become  my  painful  duty  to  announce  that  Marie  Townsend,  a  member 
of  this  church,  has  for  two  years  past  persevered  in  denying  the  doctrine  of  the  ever- 
lasting punishment  of  the  wicked,  and  has  presented  her  children  for  dedication  at 
a  place  of  pretended  worship,  where  the  doctrine  is  taught  that  the  wioked.  shall  be 
saved  as  well  as  the  righteous." 

457 


EEV.     JAMES     M.     PULLMAN". 

In  the  summer  of  1823  the  Second  Society  of  United  Christian 
Friends  was  formed,  and  they  erected  a  church  on  the  corner  of 
Prince  and  Orange  streets.  Rev.  Nehemiali  Dodge,  a  convert  from 
the  Baptists,  had  charge  of  this  congregation ;  and  after  him  Rev. 
Abner  Kneeland,  of  Philadelphia,  who  afterward  went  over  to  a 
desperate  infidelity.  In  1829,  a  small  body  of  seceders  from  Mr. 
Mitchell's  and  Kneeland's  congregations  formed  a  society,  and  pur- 
chased, a  little  chapel  in  Grand  street,  opposite  the  head,  of  Division 
street.  Rev.  Dr.  Sawyer,  now  eminent  in  the  Universalist  denomina- 
tion, but  then  just  out  of  college,  became  the  pastor  of  this  Society 
in  April,  1830,  it  having  only  eleven  members.  In  1831,  Philo 
Price  started  the  Christian  Messenger^  which  ruined  him.  The  papei* 
is  still  in  existence,  and  is  called  the  Christian  Ambassador.  In 
1832,  Dr.  Sawyer  hired  a  church  in  Orchard  street,  which  was  after- 
wards purchased  by  his  congregation.  The  Third  Society,  now  wor- 
shiping in  Bleecker  street,  originated  in  1834.  and  the  first  meetings 
were  held  in  a  little  church  in  Sixth  avenue,  opposite  Amity  street 
Later,  the  Fourth  Society,  now  Dr.  Cliapin's,  was  organized,  and 
after  several  removals  a  church  on  Fifth  avenue  was  erected. 
The  Fifth  Society  was  organized  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Dry 
Dock,  and  was  finally  located  in  a  church  in  Fourth  street,  near 
Avenue  C,  but  is  now  disbanded. 

The  Sixth  Universalist  Society,  or  Church  of  Our  Saviour,  now 
under  the  pastorship  of  Mr.  Pullman,  was  organized  in  1851,  with  a 
few  members.  In  1852,  the  Rev.  Nelson  Snell  was  called  as  the 
first  pastor.  The  first  preaching  was  in  a  hall  corner  of  Eighth 
avenue  and  West  Twenty-fifth  street,  but  the  congregation  pur- 
chased a  church  and  adjoining  dwelling-house  in  Twenty-fourth 
street,  near  Ninth  avenue,  for  $6,500.  This  church  was  occupied 
January  23d,  1853,  and  on  the  23d  of  June  following  was  reorganized 
with  twenty  members.  Mr.  Snell  resigned  after  a  pastorship  of 
more  than  two  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  tiie  Rev.  Asher  Moore, 
who  remained  three  years.  In  July,  1858,  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Shepherd 
became  the  pastor,  but  resigned  after  a  pastorate  of  one  year.  Dur- 
ing his  term  of  service  a  church  in  West  Twentieth  street  was  pur- 
chased, and  after  being  refitted  at  considerable  expense,  was  opened 
for  worship  on  Sunday,  May  22d,  1859.  Mr.  Brooks  succeeded  Mr. 
Shepherd,  and  received  installation  on  the  first  Sunday  of  November, 
1859.     He  remained  with  the  congregation  eight  years,  and  during 

this  time  the  congregation  increased,  and  a  church  edifice  in  West 

458 


REV.     JAMES     M.      PULLMAN. 

Tbirtj-fifth  street,  near  Sixth  avenue,  was  purchased  and  occupied. 
The  church  in  Twentieth  street  was  sold  in  1856,  and  for  nearly  a 
year  the  society  worshiped  in  Everett  Hall,  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Thirty-fourth  street  They  expected  to  have  bought  ground  and 
built  a  church,  but  at  length  the  Episcopal  Church  of  the  Resurrec- 
•fcion  (Rev.  Dr.  Flagg's),  and  rectory  adjoining,  were  purchased  for  the 
sum  of  thirty-four  thousand  dollars,  and  soon  after  taken  possession 
of.  In  1873  this  property  was  sold,  and  a  new  church  is  to  be 
built 

The  prosperity  of  this  and  the  other  Societies  of  the  denomina- 
tion, shows  that  the  TTniversalists  have  come  forth  from  the  back- 
streets  and  dingy  halls  of  former  times.  They  no  longer  go  to  th^ir 
places  of  devotion  with  every  man's  finger  pointed  at  them  as  the 
accursed  of  the  city.  They  have  built  churches  on  the  grand  avenues 
and  best  streets  ;  they  have  social  influence  and  wealth,  and  thej^  have 
learned  and  eloquent  ministers.  These  ministers,  too,  are  no  longer 
mere  enthusiasts,  seeking  notoriety  or  martyrdom  through  the  ad- 
vocacy of  an  unpopular  belief  but  they  arc  men  educated  to  their 
calling,  and  able  to  defend  what  they  jireach  from  a  standpoint  of 
scholarship.  They  have  schools,  colleges,  and  universities,  and,  in  a 
word,  they  have  command  of  all  of  those  facilities  which  are  necessary 
for  the  permanency  and  success  of  their  sect  as  one  of  the  religious 
bodies  of  the  land.  To  reach  this  position  it  has  taken  in  New  York, 
one  hundred  years  of  fidelity  to  principle,  of  moral  heroism  under 
discouragement,  and  of  social  ban  and  martyrdom. 

Mr.  Pullman  is  a  representative  man  in  organizing  and  conduct- 
ing the  religious  work  of  his  denomination.  His  energy  and  practi- 
cal judgment,  pre-eminently  fit  him  for  t':ese  duties.  In  1869  he 
organized  and  become  President  of  the  Universalist  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  of  New  York,  which  has  Library  and  Read- 
ing Rooms  in  Sixth  avenue.  He  was  elected  in  the  same  year  Secre- 
tary of  the  General  Convention,  the  body  which  directs  the  affau'S 
of  the  denomination  at  larje. 

Mr.  Pullman  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  well-proportioned. 

He  has  a  good-sized  head,  and  regular,  rather  handsome  features. 

His  eyes  are  clear,  with  a  modest  glance ;  arid  his  whole  face  shows 

him  to  be  a  person  of  genial  and  kindly  characteristics.     His  man-  . 

ners  are  natural  and  unaftected.      He  does  not  dress  at  all  in  the 

clerical  style,  and  he  might  as  readily  pass  for  a  merchant  as  a  divine. 

In  fact,  the  avoidance  of  everything  to   call   him  personally  into 

■^459 


REV.     JAMES     M.      PULLMAN. 

notice  is  one  of  tlie  rules  of  his  life.  He  is  a  warm-hearted  man,  a 
good  husband,  a  gentle  father,  and  has  all  those  ardent  and  sym- 
pathetic feelings  of  the  heart  which  lend  such  a  charm  to  social  ties 
and  interminglings.  He  carries  smiles  and  cheerfulness  wherever  he 
goes ;  and  there  are  few  men  who  are  more  warmlv  regarded  in  per- 
sonal friendship  than  himself. 

He  is  a  hard  worker  in  the  ministry.  Universalist  ministers  have 
in  no  sense  an  easy  office.  They  must  study  hard,  and  be  ready  at 
all  times  to  meet  the  assaults  which  learning,  and  ignorance  as  well, 
make  upon  their  faith.  Mr.  Pullman  is  one  of  the  kind  who  is  al- 
ways ready  for  the  enemy,  and  always  at  his  post  expecting  him. 
His  mind  is  clear,  fertile,  and  active,  and  his  powers  of  argument  and 
explanation  are  strong  and  comprehensive,  and  well  suited  to  the 
task  of  expounding  the  Scriptures.  In  conversation  and  public 
speaking  he  has  a  pleasant  and  winning  voice,  and  his  manners  are 
always  gentle  and  fascinating.  His  people  become  strongly  attached 
to  him,  and  even  strangers  are  always  favorably  impressed.  He  is  a 
faithful  pastor,  and  is  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  ministerial  brethren 
for  his  talents  and  conscientious  labors. 

Ml".  Pullman  is  a  man  who  is  well  calculated  to  spread  his  faith, 
and  also  maintain  the  rising  reputation  of  his  denomination.  He 
has  marked  talents  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it  for  his  ministerial 
work,  and  he  has  a  force  of  character  and  a  personal  dignity  which 
will  always  maintain  him  reputably  in  his  public  position.  The 
cause  of  Universalism  will  make  no  backward  strides  while  in  his 
hands ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  will  receive  all  the  advantages  which 
must  arise  from  his  diligence  in  duty,  and  earnest  religious  life. 


460 


/^^ 


^<^ 


REV.  ALFRED  P.  PUTNAM,   D.  D., 

PASTOR  OF    THE   CHUK,CH  OF  THE  SAVIOUH, 

(U]VITA.KIATV,)  BROOBLLYIV. 


EY.  DR.  ALFEED  P.  PUTNAM  was  bora  at  North 
Danvers,  Mass.,  January  10th,  1827.  His  father  was  the 
Hon.  Elias  Putnam,  a  prominent  and  influential  man  in 
Essex  County,  Like  all  the  Putnams  in  the  land  he  was 
descended  from  John  Putnam,  who  came  to  this  country  from 
England  in  1634,  and  settled  in  Salem,  Mass.  The  father  and 
mother  of  Elias  were  Israel  and  Anna  Putnam.  Anna's  maiden 
name  was  Endicott,  and  she  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Endi- 
cott,  the  old  Puritan  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  Dr.  Putnam  is 
the  eighth  of  a  family  of  eleven  children.  An  older  brother,  Israel 
Alden  Putnam,  was  a  graduate  of  the  Theological  School  at  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  in  1848,  and  died  in  October  of  the  same  year.  He 
was  a  man  of  noble  promise,  and  his  sudden  death  was  deeply  and 
widely  lamented. 

The  subject  of  our  notice  received  his  earlier  education  at  various 
academies.  At  fifteen  years  of  age  he  was  clerk  in  the  Bank  of  his 
native  town,  of  which  his  father  was  for  some  time  the  honored 
President,  and  was  engaged  in  1846-7  as  bookkeeper  to  Messrs.  Allen 
&  Minot,  Boston.  He  spent  a  year  at  Dartmouth  College,  whence  he 
proceeded  to  Brown  University,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1852.  He 
then  taught  a  High  School  at  Wenham,  Mass.,  for  six  months,  when 
he  entered  the  Divinity  School  at  Harvard,  where  he  was  gTaduated 
July  17th,  1855,  having  been  licensed  to  preach  the  winter  previous  by 
the  Boston  Association  of  Ministers.  He  had  calls  to  settle  at 
Watertown,  Biidgewater,  Sterling,  and  Roxbury,  choosing  the  last, 
where  he  assumed,  on  December  19th,  1855,  the  pastorship  of  the 
Mount  Pleasant  Congregational  Unitarian  Church,  He  was  married 
January  10th,  1856,  to  Miss  Louise  P.  Preston,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Preston,  Esq.,  of  Danvers,  who  died  June  12th,  1860,  leaving  no  child- 
ren.    He  entered  into  a  second  marriage.  December  27th,  1865,  to 

431 


REV.     ALFRED     P.      PUTNAM,     D.  D. 

Miss  Eliza  King  Buttrick,  daughter  of  Ephraim  Buttrick,  Esq.,  of 
Cambridge,  formerly  a  prominent  member  of  the  Middlesex  bar.  By 
this  union  there  have  been  born  four  children.  The  afiliction  caused 
by  the  death  of  his  first  wife  and  ill-health,  induced  him  to  seek  a 
change  of  scene  and  climate.  On  May  28th,  1862,  he  sailed  from  Bos- 
ton on  an  extended  tour  in  Europe,  Egypt,  and  the  Holy  Land, 
reaching  Boston  again,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  sixteen  months, 
September  16th,  1863.  His  travels  have  formed  subjects  for  various 
lectu]-es,  and  also  articles  for  papers  and  magazines.  One  course 
was  upon  the  History  and  Euins  of  Egypt,  another  on  his  travels 
over  the  Desert  and  in  Palestine,  and  a  third  on  the  Eeligious  Aspects 
of  Europe. 

On  September  28th,  1864,  Dr.  Putnam  was  installed  as  pastor  of 
the  Church  of  the  Saviour,  Brooklyn,  to  which  he  had  been  called 
as  the  successor  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Farley.  The  Society  is 
large,  and  one  of  the  wealthiest  in  Brooklyn. 

Unitarian  worship  was  first  held  in  Brooklyn  on  Sunday,  August 
17th,  1833.  Previous  to  this  time,  most  of  the  persons  of  that  faith 
attended  the  churches  in  New  York.  The  Rev.  David  H.  Barlow 
was  the  first  pastor  of  the  Society,  which  took  the  name  of  the  First 
Unitarian  Church  of  Brooklyn,  serving  nearly  four  years.  On 
April  11th,  1838,  the  Rev.  Frederick  W.  Holland  was  ordained  a  min- 
ister of  the  Society,  and  labored  in  the  pastorship  until  April  1st, 
1842.  Disaffection  in  the  Society  had  led  to  the  formation  of  a 
second  church,  which  held  its  first  public  worship  January  3d,  1841. 
Rev.  Frederick  A.  Farley  conducted  the  services,  and  was  called  as 
the  first  pastor,  beginning  his  permanent  work  in  August  of  the 
same  year.  On  the  1st  of  November,  the  Society  organized  under 
the  name  of  the  Second  Unitarian  Church  of  Brooklyn,  being  mostly 
composed  of  members  who  had  withdrawn  from  the  First  Church. 
Later  the  two  Societies  were  united  under  the  corporate  name  of  the 
First  Unitarian  Congregational  Church  of  Brooklyn.  Mr.  Farley 
preached  at  the  first  service  of  the  consolidated  Society,  on  the  first 
Sunday  of  April,  1842,  and  on  the  31st  of  May,  was  unanimously 
elected  the  pastor.  On  the  24th  of  April,  1844,  the  elegant  and  im- 
posing brown-stone  Gothic  Church  now  occupied  by  the  congregation, 
on  the  corner  of  Pierrepont  street  and  Monroe  Place,  was  dedicated 
with  most  interesting  services.  Mr.  Farley  was  installed  on  the  fol- 
lowing day.     The  entire  cost  of  the  land,  church  furniture,  etc.,  was 

S34,949.61  :  the  edifice  was  dedicated  as  the  Church  of  the  Saviour. 

462 


REV.      ALFRED     P.     PUTNAM,     D.  D. 

The  high  character  of  the  members,  and  the  pre-eminent  fitness  of 
the  pastor  for  his  work,  soon  gave  the  Society  an  importance  in  the 
community,  which  it  has  never  lost.  After  twenty-two  years  of  ser- 
vice in  Brooklyn,  Dr.  Farley  resigned  his  position,  and  preached  his 
larewell  sermon  in  November,  1863.  Dr.  Putnam  was  called  May 
2d,  1864,  and  installed  in  the  following  September. 

In  1850,  this  Society  witnessed  the  formation  of  a  Second  Uni- 
tarian Church  in  Brooklyn,  and  in  1867,  contributed  $10,000  for  the 
erection  of  Unity  Chapel  for  a  Third  Society.  Other  works  of  the 
Society  were  the  establishment  of  its  Furman  street  mission  school, 
in  1865,  and  of  the  Brooklyn  Liberal  Christian  Union,  one  of 
the  most  deserving  institutions  of  the  city,  about  the  same  period. 
In  1865-66  it  erected  the  beautiful  chapel  which  adjoins  the  church 
at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  and  in  1866  spent  $6,000  in  repairs  on  the 
church  edifice.  It  has  not  a  cent  of  debt,  and  means  to  have  none. 
Its  contributions  are  always  most  liberal.  There  are  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  communicants,  more  than  a  hundred  of  whom  have 
united  with  the  church  during  the  present  pastorate. 

When  in  Massachusetts  Dr.  Putnam  became  a  constant  contrib- 
utor to  the  Monthly  Religious  Magazine  published  in  Boston. 
Many  political  and  anti-slavery  articles  from  his  pen  appeared  in  the 
Roxbury  Journal,  and  the  Christian  Enquirer,  published  in  New 
York.  He  was  actively  identified  with  the  anti-slavery  agitation  in 
New  England  ;  and  more  recently  he  has  taken  a  great  interest  in 
political  reform.  He  is  now  a  contributor  to  the  Unitarian  RtvieiVy 
Liberal  Christian,  and  other  denominational  publications. 

Before  Lyceums  and  Literary  Institutions  he  has  delivered  lec- 
tures and  addresses  on  a  variety  of  subjects,  among  others  on  "  The 
North  American  Indian  ;"  "  Greece  and  the  Revolution  of  1843  ;" 
"  History  of  the  Art  of  Printing  ;"  "  The  Education  of  Women  ;" 
"  America  seen  at  a  distance ;"  "  The  Nile ;"  "  The  World's  Debt  to 
Egypt ;"  and  "  History  of  Universalism  in  the  Old  World  and  the 
New."  In  1862,  at  the  dinner  of  Americans  in  London  to  celebrate 
the  4th  of  Jul}',  he  replied  most  eloquently  to  the  toast,  "  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States."  During  the  winter  of  1867-8,  he 
gave  to  his  people  and  the  public  a  course  of  Sunday  evening 
lectures  on  the  "  Religions  of  Antiquity," — of  Egypt,  Greece,  Rome, 
Persia,  China,  Arabia,  and  India  ;  and  in  1872-73,  he  delivered  a 
course  of  nine  lectures  on  ''  Sacred  Songs  and  Singers."     He  has 

published  eight  sermons  on  the  following  subjects  :  "  On  the  death  of 

463 


BEV.     ALFRED     P.     PUTNAM.    D.  D 

Eev.  George  Bradford  ;"  "  A  Happy  New  Year  ;"  "  Oa  the  Death  of 
Edward  Everett ;"  "  Freedom  and  Largeness  of  the  Christian  Faith;" 
"  Unitarianism  in  Brooklyn  ;"  "  The  Unitarian  Denomination  in 
America,  Past  and  Present  ;"  "  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Franklin  Andree  ;"  "  Broken  Pillars  ;"  a  lecture  on  "  The 
Life  to  Come  ;"  and  a  controversial  tract  entitled.  "  Can  Two  walk 
together  except  they  be  Agreed  ?"  These  and  all  his  other  produc- 
tions have  had  a  wide  circle  of  readers  by  reason  of  their  unusual 
brilliancy  of  scholarship  and  composition.  The  feast  is  a  rich  one 
to  partake  of,  but  we  can  only  permit  oui'selves  a  single  brief  extract 
from  the  lecture, "'  The  Life  to  Come." 

"  The  Test  of  the  soul — what  is  it?  It  is  indeed  a  sense  of  divine  favor  ;  it  is  a 
consciousness  of  purity ;  it  is  a  likeness  to  Christ,  and  oneness  with  God ;  it  is 
harmony  in  its  fullest,  highest  meaning.  But  it  is  something  beside  all  this, 
and  something  upon  which  all  this  is  conditioned,  and  witb  which  it  is  forever 
associated, — a  wise  and  vigorous  exercise  of  the  powers  and  faculties  of  our  God- 
given  natures.  Growth  is  a  law  of  our  being,  and  it  is  dependent  upon  activity.  With- 
out work,  struggle,  and  aspiration,  we  are  not  happy  :  we  rust,  and  we  retrograde. 
There  is  always  a  keen  delight  in  putting  forth  our  energies  for  some  noble  object 
or  end  ;  and  it  is  thus  that  we  inevitably  develop  into  what  is  larger  and  better. 
The  life  of  Heaven  hereafter  as  now,  is  a  life  of  constant,  ceaseless  exertion,  while 
it  must  needs  be  fi-ee  from  the  pain,  fatigue,  weariness,  and  discomforts  which  so 
often  attend  the  exertions  of  the  body  here.  It  is  because  we  always  in  our  minds 
associate  these  with  the  idea  of  action  that  we  so  often  indulge  the  hope  that  our 
future  state  wUl  be  one  of  profound  tranquility  and  inertia.  But  these  constitute  no 
part  of  the  inheritance  of  the  blessed  life  that  is  to  be  ;  unencumbered  and  unembar- 
rassed by  the  ills  of  the  flesh  and  the  hindrances  of  its  present  material  surroundings, 
the  soul  will  there  enjoy  a  freedom  which  it  here  has  never  known,  and  the  very  awak- 
ening and  tension  of  its  glorious,  unfettered,  and  emancipated  strength,  will  be  to 
it  a  zest  and  joy  more  blissful  far  than  the  most  favored  condition  of  supine,  igno- 
ble security  of  which  it  can  possibly  conceive.  It  is  thus  and  thus  alone,  that  the 
immortal  spirit  ascends  for  ever  and  ever,  nearer  and  still  nearer  to  God,  more  and 
more  comes  to  be  like  God,  and  loses  itself  deeper  and  deeper  in  God's  bosom  of 
immeasurable  and  eternal  love." 

Dr.  Putnam  is  of  a  tall,  compact,  erect  figure,  with  a  pale  com- 
plexion and  sandy  hair  and  whiskers.  He  has  a  large  round  head  ; 
the  expression  of  his  face  gives  the  highest  token  of  amiability,  cul- 
tivated breeding,  and  mental  capacity.  With  the  thoughtful,  com- 
posed countenance  there  is  the  bright,  beaming  eye,  ever  kindling 
with  the  heart's  best  sympathies,  and  with  a  dignified  reserve  there 
is  an  honest  cordiality.  A  glance  shows  you  that  he  is  one  of  those 
calm  natures  guided  almost  wholly  by  reflection.  He  is  never  moved 
by  mere  impulse  ;  he  has  no  excitability,  but  the  most  insignificant 

and  the  most  important  acts  are  alike  subjected  to  mental  considera 

464 


REV.      ALFRED     P.      PUTNAM,     D.  D. 

tion.  Hence  to  ardent  temperaments  he  seems  cold,  and  sometimes 
stern  ;  but,  after  all,  the  coldness  and  severity  are  entirely  in  the  out- 
ward man,  having  no  relation  to  the  heart  when  once  reached.  Amia- 
ble in  the  extreme,  gentle  as  a  child,  nobly  sincere,  his  susceptibili- 
ties are  tender  and  true,  though  somewhat  guarded  by  a  natural  and 
unconscious  reserve. 

Dr.  Putnam  preaches  with  much  effectiveness.  His  style  of  speaiv- 
ing  is  subdued,  and  without  much  gesture,  but  his  language  has  all 
the  power  which  scholarly  finish  and  earnest  sincerity  can  impart  to 
it  There  is  great  comprehensiveness  in  his  thought,  and  he  is  able 
to  give  expression  to  it  in  terms  of  rare  conciseness,  and  not  less  of 
beauty.  All  that  he  says  has  this  vigor  of  meaning  and  force  of  ap- 
plication, and  much  of  it  is  delivered  in  the  most  classic  and  glowing 
picturings  of  eloquence.  In  his  argument  he  addresses  himself  to  an 
elaborate  and  practical  consideration  of  his  subject,  and  you  are  led 
along  with  him,  without  tediousness,  but  rather  allured  by  the  at- 
tractive interweavings  of  a  warm  and  chaste  fancy.  No  intelligent 
person  need  be  told  of  the  irresistible  fascination  of  polished  diction, 
and  of  the  majestic  utterance  in  language  which  rolls  its  awakening 
echoes  upon  the  understanding,  as  the  reverberating  thunder  startles 
the  timid  heart.  And  herein  is  it  that  this  gifted  preacher  excels. 
Youi"  attention  is  instantly  riveted  by  the  smoothness  of  his  periods, 
and  the  elegance  of  sentiment  which  usher  you  to  profound  discus- 
sion and  lofty  imagery.  From  his  pen  and  his  lips  the  English  tongue 
speaks  in  its  grand  completeness,  and  mental  inspiration  attains  its 
sublimer  conceptions. 

He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  his  Alma  Mater,  Brown 
University,  in  1871. 

He  belongs  to  the  old  or  Channing  school  of  Unitarianism.  Hold- 
ing to  his  particular  tenets  with  all  the  strength  of  his  intellect  and 
his  love,  he  stands  prominent  among  their  ablest  expounders,  and  in 
a  pure,  consistent  life  seeks  their  practical  illustration  before  his  fel- 
low-men. 

465 


REY.  DANIEL  McL.  QUACKENBUSH,  D.  D., 

I»A.STOK.   OF    THE    I»riO©I?ECT    HILIL,    riEr'015M:El> 
CHURCH,  .EIGHiTY-lTIFTH:  STUEET,  NJiIW  YOUIt. 


EV.  DE.  DANIEL  McL.  QUACKENBUSH  was  born  in 
the  ciij  of  New  York,  March  9th,  1819.  His  early  stu- 
dies were  at  the  High  School  in  Crosby  street,  of  which 
Professor  Griscom,  a  noted  Quaker  scholar  of  that  day, 
was  the  principal.  Among  the  pupils  of  this  school,  who  have 
«iIS  distinguished  themselves,  may  be  mentioned  Captaiu  James 
Lawrence,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  who  fell  on  board  the  Chesa- 
peake ;  ex- Judge  Roosevelt,  and  Daniel  Lord,  of  the  New  York  bar, 
and  Horu  Schuyler  Colfax.  Dr.  Quackenbush  was  graduated  at 
Columbia  College  in  1836,  and  in  theology  at  the  Seminary  of  the 
Reformed  Church  at  New  Brunswick  in  1889.  He  was  licensed  by 
the  Presbytery  of  New  York  iu  1840,  and  in  the  following  year  was 
ordained  and  installed  by  'the  Presbytery  of  Cambridge,  as  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  at  Hebron,  Washington  county.  New  York, 
where  he  remained  five  years.  He  then  went  to  a  leading  Re- 
formed church  in  Ulster  county,  New  York,  which  position  he 
held  two  years,  and  then  went  to  the  Reformed  church  at  Fish- 
kill-on-the-Hudson,  where  he  remained  four  years.  His  next  field  of 
labor  was  a  chapel  of  the  Reformed  church  on  the  Heights,  Brooklyn, 
situated  in  Summit  street.  South  Brooklyn,  where  he  was  engaged 
three  years,  when  he  was  called  to  the  Reformed  church  at  Hastings, 
New  York,  where  he  remained  two  years,  and  then  went  to  his  pre- 
sent position  as  pastor  of  the  Prospect  Hill  Reformed  church,  in 
Eighty-fifth  street.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  about  1863. 

This  church  was  organized  in  1860.  The  first  preaching  was  in 
a  little  hall  at  the  corner  of  Eighty-sixth  street  and  Third  avenue, 
but  during  the  first  year  a  temporary  building  was  put  up  on  Third 
avenue,  between  Eighty-seventh  and  Eighty-eighth  streets.  In 
January,  1861,  Dr.  Quackenbush  commenced  his  duties  as  the  first 

466 


REV.     DANIEL     MCL.      QUACKENBUSH,     D.  D. 

pastor.  The  congregation  increased,  and,  after  a  few  years,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  provide  other  accommodations.  In  1867  an 
edifice  on  Eighty-fifth  street,  between  Second  and  Third  avenue 
formerly  occupied  by  the  Episcopal  Chnrch  of  the  Redeemer,  was 
purchased  by  the  Reformed  church  congregation,  and,  after  extensive 
improvements,  occupied  by  them. 

Dr.  Quackenbush  is  about  of  the  medium  height,  equally  propor- 
tioned, and  erect.  He  has  a  head  of  ample  size,  with  good  features. 
He  is  not  a  showy  or  a  demonstrative  man,  but  he  has  the  valuable 
quality  of  bringing  a  large  amount  of  practical  judgment  to  bear  in 
all  cases,  and  thus  wields  as  much  power  as  those  who  make  more 
pretentions.  While  there  is  a  measure  of  dignity  about  his  manners, 
they  are  invariably  courteous  and  genial.  He  has  a  good  flow  of 
language  in  conversation,  which  he  always  seeks  to  make  agreeable 
and  interesting.  In  truth,  he  is  one  of  those  plain,  sober-mindeil, 
sensible  men  who  make  liosts  of  friends,  and  do  the  largest  amount 
of  work  in  professional  life,  with  the  least  noise  and  show  about  it. 
He  is  a  public  man,  discharging  constant  pub  ic  duties,  and  still  he 
has  all  the  modesty  of  a  person  in  the  utmost  retirement  of  lite.  He 
confines  himself  strictly  to  the  limits  of  his  pastoral  duties  and  obli- 
gations, and  never  neglects  them  for  those  public  appearances  which 
are  the  occasion  for  so  much  notoriety  on  the  part  of  so  many  of  the 
clergy.  He  is  an  old-fashioned  minister,  who  attends  to  his  own 
flock,  who  goes  about  doing  good,  and  who  exercises  his  of&ce  solely 
m  its  spiritual  relations  to  the  salvation  of  sinners. 

He  is  a  matter-of-fact  preacher.  He  indulges  in  no  rhapsodies, 
no  flourishes  of  rhetoric,  no  appeals  to  bigoted  sentiments ;  but  he 
discourses  in  a  co:nmon-sense  vein  of  the  great  fundamental  doc- 
trines, and  applies  them  seriously  to  every-day  life.  No  man  can 
ever  take  exception  to  a  woixl  that  he  utters ;  but  on  the  contrary  the 
most  indifferent  hearer  is  moved  to  expressions  of  commendation. 
He  would  be  called  a  plain  preacher  also  in  his  manners,  for  they  are 
without  display,  and  have  only  the  simple  naturalness  of  the  con- 
versational style. 

Dr.  Quackenbush  is  a  valuable  man  to  his  church  and  to  the 
community.  He  is  conscientious  in  his  life,  and  in  the  performance 
of  all  his  duties  as  a  pastor.  Seeking  the  spiritual  development 
of  his  people,  he  is  a  follower  of  the  Apostolic  example,  rather  than 
covetous  of  personal  distinction. 

467 


REV.    ALEXANDER   REED,  D.D., 


|EV.  DR.  ALEXANDER  REED  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton county,  Pennsylvania,  September  28tli,  1832.  He 
is  the  son  of  the  Hon.  Robert  R.  Reed,  M.  D.,  an  emi- 
nent citizen  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  graduated  at  Wash- 
ington College  in  1851,  and  at  the  Western  Theological 
^  Seminary  in  1856.  In  adopting  the  clerical  profession  he 
followed  tlie  example  of  many  of  his  ancestors,  for  he  is  descended 
from  a  ministerial  family.  Both  of  his  father's  grandfathers  were 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  Reed  familj^  has  fur- 
nished a  long  line  of  ministers  from  the  time  of  the  Rev.  James  Reed, 
first  pastor  of  Banchory-Ternan,  after  the  Reformation.  Dr.  Reed 
informs  us  that  the  name  was  originall}''  spelled  Reid,  after  the 
Scotch  style,  but  was  changed  to  its  present  mode  by  his  grand- 
father. He  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Upper  Octorara 
church,  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  October,  1857,  where  he 
remained  some  time.  In  December,  1864,  he  was  installed  as  the 
pastor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  church,  Philadelphia,  Here  he 
preached  with  great  success  for  some  nine  years,  making  a  wide 
reputation  for  learning  and  eloquence.  He  finally  accepted  a  call 
to  the  South  Presbyterian  church,  Brooklyn,  where  he  was  installed 
on  Sunday,  June  8th,  1873. 

The  South  Presbyterian  Church  of  Brooklyn  was  incorporated 
on  the  20th  of  July,  1842.  The  Rev.  William  W.  Patton  was  im- 
mediately employed  as  a  preacher  for  the  congregation  for  the  term 
of  three  months.  On  the  evening  of  Sunday,  September  18th,  1842, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Cox,  and  the  Rev.  Messra  Duflield,  Rowland,  Fairchild, 
and  Bidwell,  acting  as  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery  of  Brooklyn, 
proceeded  to  constitute  the  South  Presbyterian  Church  of  Brooklyn, 
consisting  of  seventy-two  members.     At  the  same  time  six  elders 

and  three  deacons  were  publicly  inducted  to  their  respective  offices. 

^68 


REV.     ALEXANDER    REED,     D.  D. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  T.  Speer  was  installed  as  the  first  pastor  on  the 
14th  of  May,  1843,  and  thus  remained  for  about  twenty-seven  years. 
The  present  church  edifice,  on  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Amity 
streets,  was  erected  in  1845,  at  an  expense  of  thirty-thousand  dollars, 
including  the  cost  of  the  ground  on  which  it  stands.  It  was  dedicated 
to  the  worship  of  God  in  the  month  of  July  of  the  same  year.  In  1845 
about  fourteen  thousand  dollars  were  subscribed  and  paid  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  church  edifice,  and  in  1848  two  thousand  and  seven  hun- 
'dred  dollars  were  raised  to  cancel  a  floating  debt.  From  December, 
1849,  to  December,  1853,  fourteen  thousand  dollars  were  paid  on  the 
mortgage  debt  contracted  in  erecting  the  church  edifice.  The  present 
membei'ship  is  about  four  hundred  and  seven,  and  the  Sunday  School 
has  between  three  and  four  hundred  pupils.  After  the  resignation 
of  Dr.  Speer,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Patton  was  called,  who  remained  only  a 
short  time,  having  been  elected  a  professor  in  the  Presbyterian  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  Chicago,  when  Dr.  Reed  became  the  third  pastor 
of  the  church. 

On  the  question  of  the  union  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  Dr.  Reed  took  decided  ground  from  the  first  agitation 
of  the  object,  and  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  all  measures  leading  to 
promote  that  object.  He  was  chosen  to  preside  over  the  meeting  of 
ministers  and  elders,  which  called  the  great  convention  of  all 
branches  of  the  Presbyterian  churches,  held  in  Philadelphia  in  Sep- 
tember, 1867,  and  (with  others)  called  and  addressed  the  first  meet- 
ing held  in  favor  of  the  basis  adopted  by  the  general  Assemblies 
of  the  two  branches  in  1868;  this  meeting  was  held  in  Dr.  Reed's 
church,  then  in  Philadelphia. 

During  the  war  Dr.  Reed  performed  a  most  patriotic  and  efficient 
part  as  a  General  Superintendent  of  the  Christian  Commission,  and 
had  much  to  do  with  getting  it  into  thorough  working  order.  He 
is  a  trustee  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Presbyterian  House ;  has  been  a  member  of  all  the  boards  of  the 
church,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Relief  Fund,  and  is  now 
President  of  the  Board  of  Publication.  He  was  Moderator  of  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia:  in  1868,  and  has  always  been  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  the  church,  and  several  times  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Assembly.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.D, 
from  Princeton  College  in  1865. 

He  has  delivered  various  exceedingly   entertaining  lectures  on 

popular  subjects,  and  is  in  much  demand  as  a  platform  speaker. 

469 


REV.    ALEXANDER    REED,    D.  D. 

Among  his  lectures  may  be  named  "  American  Boy,"  "  Secret  of 
Success,"  and  "Italy  as  I  saw  it" 

When  Dr.  Reed  was  about  removing  from  Philadelphia,  one  of 
the  leading  Methodist  preachers  remarked  "that  the  vote  of  the  en- 
tire Conference  could  be  had  if  it  would  induce  Dr.  Reed  to  remain." 
The  following  is  an  accurate  account  of  this  distinguished  man : 
"Dr.  Reed's  course  in  the  ministry  has  been  steadily  upv/ard.  He 
is  a  man  of  sound  judgment,  great  sagacity,  and  thorough  scholar- 
ship; an  active  promoter  of  revivals,  and  full  of  vitality,  which  he 
imparts  to  the  congregations  under  his  charge.  As  a  preacher  he  is 
earnest  and  eloquent;  at  once  instructive  and  practical,  alive  to  the 
issues  of  the  day,  fully  abreast  of  the  times,  and  specially  attractive  to 
the  young,  never  preaching  to  empty  benches.  He  is  a  gentleman  of 
high  culture,  of  fine  moral  qualities,  and  warm  sympathies,  and 
eminently  successful  as  a  pastor."  A  letter  before  us,  from  a  high 
source,  thus  speaks  of  Dr.  Reed:  "Learned  in  the  sciences,  familiar 
with  the  teaching  of  the  doubters  from  the  da^^s  of  the  Greek  sophists 
to  the  Maudsleys  and  Darwins  of  the  present  epoch,  himself  a  dispu- 
tant and  logician  of  the  highest  training,  this  preacher  impresses  not 
less  by  the  learning  he  exhibits,  than  by  the  beautiful  and  unwaver- 
ing faith  that  is  seen  to  be  in  him." 

Dr.  Reed  is  of  the  average  height,  and  has  a  round,  compact,  and 
erect  figure.  His  head  and  face  are  large,  with  finely  moulded 
features.  He  looks  ])ale,  as  if  his  scholarly  application  was  excessive, 
and  his  expression  is  that  of  the  thoroughly  intellectual  and  de- 
cidedly amiable  man.  His  manners  are  warmly  polite,  and  with  his 
conversation,  so  agreeable  that  he  wins  your  good-will  on  the  instant. 
In  social  life  he  is  noted  for  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  humor  and 
anecdote.  One  reason  of  his  popularity  as  a  lecturer  arises  from  the 
fact  that  his  productions  abound  in  brilliant  wit,  sprightly  anecdote, 
and  graphic  sketches  of  individual  peculiarities,  provoking  outbursts 
of  laughter,  and  rounds  of  applause.  As  a  speaker  his  voice  is  rich  in 
tone,  and  his  gestures  are  timely  and  expressive.  Profound  in  his 
learning,  strong  in  his  faith,  eloquent  with  pen  and  tongue,  he 
preaches  with  a  power  equal  to  any  clergyman  of  his  day.  Admired 
and  beloved  in  the  social  circle  for  his  many  fascinations  of  char- 
acter, he  is  not  less  esteemed  in  the  church  and  community,  for 
splendor  of  talents  and  practical  usefulness. 

470 


EEY.    WILLTAx¥  REID, 

I5A.I»'X'1ST    CHtlieU,     IVDETV    YORK!. 


'EY.  WILLIAM  EEID  was  born  in  Ayrshire,  Scotland, 
in  the  year  1812.  He  is  of  good  Scotch  Presbyterian 
stock,  from  a  very  remote  ancestry.  He  was  the  subject 
of  religious  impressions  and  resolutions  from  early  child- 
hood. At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was  baptized  in  one  of  the 
beautiful  little  lochs  of  the  west  of  Scotland,  and  united  with 
the  Baptist  church  in  Scotland  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev. 
James  Blair.  His  father  likewise  withdrew  from  the  Presbyterian 
church  and  joined  the  Baptist  denomination.  In  his  nineteenth 
year,  after  frequent  efforts  in  speaking  in  the  congregations,  he  re- 
ceived, unsought,  the  license  of  the  church  to  improve  his  gifts.  In 
1832  he  came  to  the  United  States.  He  was  engaged  to  some  extent 
in  secular  business,  but  the  improvement  of  his  gifts,  and  the  urgency 
of  his  Christian  friends  induced  him  to  consider  the  subject  of  devot- 
ing himself  exclusively  to  the  Christian  ministry.  His  earlier  educa- 
tion had  been  in  connection  with  the  select  and  grammar  schools  of 
his  native  town.  For  several  3'ears  he  pursued  his  studies  at  the 
Connecticut  Literary  Institute  at  Suffield. 

He  was  regularly  licensed  by  the  Baptist  church  of  Willimantic, 
Conn.,  and  ordained  to  the  Gospel  ministry  in  East  Windsor,  in  1839. 
From  this  period,  for  about  twenty-three  years,  he  pursued  a 
ministerial  work  in  different  parts  of  Connecticut  with  remarkable 
success.  He  was  first  settled  as  the  pastor  of  the  Baptist,  church  at 
Wethersfield,  where  he  labored  successfully  two  full  years.  Afterwards 
he  was  settled  five  years  over  the  Baptist  church  at  Tariffville.  Large 
additions  were  made  to  the  congregation  by  conversion  and  baptism. 
He  next  removed  to  the  pastoral  care  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in 
Bridgeport,  where  he  remained  about  nine  years.  Having  received  a 
unanimous  call  to  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  New  London,  he  ac- 
cepted it.     He  labored  about  eight  years  in  this  field,  during  which 

471 


REV.      WILLIAM     REID. 

time  large  numbers  were  added  by  letter  and  baptism.  From  New 
London  lie  removed  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of 
Greenpoint,  in  the  Eastern  district  of  Brooklyn.  Here  he  labored 
with  great  success  for  five  years  and  a  half  Many  persons  were  con- 
verted and  added  to  the  church,  and  its  means  and  influence  were 
greatly  increased.  He  next  received  and  accepted  a  call  to  the 
McDougal  street  Baptist  Church,  New  York,  where  he  ministered 
with  his  usual  success. 

This  church  originated  in  a  colony  from  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
then  in  Gold  street,  which  went  out  in  1809,  and  a  colony  from  the 
Fayette  street  Baptist  Church,  now  Oliver  street  Church,  wbich  went 
out  in  1813.  It  has  thus  been  in  existence  for  the  period  of  sixty- 
four  yeai's.  The  first  colony  was  for  a  while  designated  as  the  North 
Baptist  Church,  and  the  second  as  the  Berean  Baptist  Church.  Their 
meetings  were  first  held  in  a  brewery  in  Desbrosses  street  In  1810 
steps  were  taken  to  build  a  church  edifice  in  Vandam  street,  which 
was  completed,  but  finally  sold  for  debt.  Then  they  met  in  C.  P. 
"Wyckoff 's  school-house  in  Dominick  street  Soon  after  the  formation 
of  the  North  Berean  Church,  they  purchased  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Mulberry  street  Church  the  original  house  in  Vandam  sti-eet,  which, 
however,  was  still  followed  by  misfortune,  and  was  burned  in  1831." 
Afterward  lots  were  bought,  and  the  present  church  edifice  in 
McDougal  sti-eet  was  erected.  The  name  of  North  Berean  was 
changed  to  McDougal  street  Baptist  Church.  The  church  has  had 
nine  pastors.  One  of  these  was  the  Eev.  Duncan  Dunbar,  who 
served  as  pastor  three  difierent  times,  in  all  twenty  years.  Members 
of  this  church  were  the  principal  persons  in  the  organization  of  the 
Berean  Baptist  Church,  and  of  the  Mariners'  Church.  A  regular 
colony  from  the  church  originated  the  Sixteenth  street  Chui'ch. 

Mr.  Reid  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  compactly  built.  He  has 
a  great  deal  of  physical  activity  and  an  indomitable  energy.  His 
head  is  round,  with  regular  features,  and  a  most  cheerful,  benevolent 
expression  of  countenance.  He  is  a  man  of  clear  and  quick  intel- 
lectual perceptions,  of  an  ardent  abounding  faith,  and  great  practical 
judgment  in  the  application  of  his  mental  and  physical  resources  for 
whatever  work  he  has  to  do.  In  the  churches  with  which  he  has 
been  connected,  which  he  has  taken  in  a  condition  of  spiritual  and 
financial  prostration,  it  has  been  not  only  his  zeal  in  strictly  spiritual 
labors,  but  his  judgment  and  ability  in  business  matters,  which  have 

raised  them  to  the  highest  prosperity  in  both  particulars. 

472 


E  E  y.      "WILLIAM     R  E  I D. 

His  seiinons  are  well  written  expositions  of  the  scriptures  and  of 
Christian  and  moral  duty,  and  his  delivery  is  earnest  and  eloquent. 
He  has  been  a  close,  painstaking  student,  and  he  is  clear  and  forcible 
in  all  his  explanations.  On  all  the  doctrinal  points,  he  is  noted  in 
the  denomination  as  one  of  its  most  logical  and  effective  writers  and 
speakers.  His  mode  of  reasoning  is  always  simple,  and  explained 
by  many  familiar  illustrations,  while  at  the  same  time  it  is  clear  in 
meaning,  concise  in  expression,  and  spoken  with  the  warmth  and  in- 
spiration of  a  kindly  and  devout  heart.  His  voice  is  round  and  full, 
and  is  pleasantly  modulated  throughout.  You  cannot  doubt  eitber 
his  sincerity  or  his  deep,  absorbing  piety.  He  shows  this  in  language, 
manners,  and  in  every  act  of  his  daily  life.  He  goes  among  his 
fellow-men  with  a  beaming  face,  a  cheerful  heart,  a  patient  spirit,  and 
with  humility  and  self-sacrifice  in  all  his  proceedings.  He  is  earnest 
and  untiring,  and  few  men  are  more  capable  of  securing  that  pop- 
ularity and  influence  which  go  so  iar  with  a  public  man  in  making 
his  undertakings  successful. 

473 


REY.  HENRY  BASCOM  RIDGAWAY,  D.  D., 

I»A.STOTl    OF     ST.    JJ^IVTES*    IMETHOrUST    CXIXJKCH, 


EV.  DR  HENRY  BASCOM  RIDGAWAY  was  born  in 
Talbot  County,  Maryland,  September  7tli,  1830.  He 
went  through  a  course  of  studies  at  the  Public  High 
School  in  Baltimore,  under  the  Presidency  of  IST.  0. 
Banks,  LL.  D.  In  the  summer  of  1849  he  was  graduated  at 
tuQ  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Penn.,  having,  prior  to  this  time,  re- 
ceived a  license  to  preach  as  a  local  minister  of  the  Methodist  church. 
His  first  sermon  was  preached  before  his  eighteenth  year,  at  a  camp 
meeting  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  After  graduating  he 
taught  school  for  some  months,  and  commenced  his  regular  ministry 
in  the  fall  of  1849,  in  the  Summerfield  circuit,  Baltimore  county.  He 
was  received  on  trial  in  the  itinerancy,  in  the  Baltimore  Conference, 
at  its  session  at  Winchester,  Va.,  in  1850,  and  appointed  to  the  Win- 
chester circuit.  The  next  spring  he  was  transferred  to  the  Loudoun 
circuit,  where  be  preached,  in  connection  with  Rev.  Wm.  Hirst,  for 
two  years.  In  1853  he  was  petitioned  for  by  the  Summerfield  circuit, 
and  also  asked  for  in  Baltimore ;  and,  from  considerations  of  ill-health, 
took  the  country  circuit.  He  was  married  in  February  of  the  same 
year  to  the  daughter  of  the  late  Professor  Caldwell,  of  Dickinson 
College.  In  the  spring  of  1854  he  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of 
tlie  North  Baltimore  circuit,  and  in  the  following  spring  became 
second  preacher  of  the  North  Baltimore  station,  which  includes  five 
churches,  with  three  ministers.  His  next  position  was  at  the  High 
street  station,  consisting  of  one  church.  Two  years  later,  at  the  de- 
sire of  the  people  of  the  Chestnut  street  church,  Portland,  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Maine  Conference,  and  appointed  to  their  newly 
completed  church.  His  removal  was  much  against  the  wishes  of  his 
Baltimore  friends.  Toward  the  close  of  his  term  at  the  Chestnut 
street  church  he  was  invited  to  become  the  pastor  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  New  York,  and  in  the  spring  of  1861  was  transferred. 

474 


^ 


REV.     HENRY     BASCOM     RIDGAWAY,     D.  D. 

For  some  twelve  years  Mr.  Eidgaway  has  officiated  in  tlie  leading 
Methodist  churches  of  New  York,  including  St.  Paul's,  Washington 
Square,  and  St.  James',  Harlem.  At  St  Paul's  he  has  received  several 
appointments.  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Dickinson 
College  in  1868. 

Mr.  Ridgaway  is  a  contributor  to  the  editorial  colunms  of  The 
Methodist,  the  organ  of  his  denomination  in  New  York.  Most  of 
his  sermons  are  either  delivered  from  brief  notes  or  memory.  There 
is  a  prejudice  among  the  Methodists  against  written  sermons,  and 
their  preachers  seldom  write  out  their  discourses.  As  an  instance  of 
Mr.  Ridgaway's  powers  of  memory,  we  may  mention  that  we  heard 
liim  preach  an  exceedingly  able  sermon,  entirely  systematic  in  its 
arrangement  and  very  elaborate  in  its  argument;  and  he  subsequently 
informed  us  that  he  only  determined  to  preach  this  sermon  during 
the  singing  of  the  second  hymn,  and  that  it  was  last  delivered  some 
two  years  before.  A  discourse  by  Mr.  Ridgaway  was  published  in  a 
collection  of  sermons  by  ministers  of  different  denominations,  issued 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Society  of  Wash- 
ington city,  and  entitled  "  The  Union  Pulpit.  " 

Mr.  Ridgaway  is  something  below  the  average  height,  and  has 
sharp  features.  Without  any  of  the  highly  distinguishing  marks 
of  intellectual  greatness,  still  you  see  every  evidence  that  he  is  a  re- 
flective man.  This  thoughtfalness  pervades  him  at  all  times,  and  is 
noticeable  in  the  most  ordinary  conversation,  for  not  a  word  is  spoken 
without  due  consideration.  His  manners  are  cordial,  and  you  soon 
find  yourself  on  very  good  terms  with  him.  He  is  altogether  quiet 
and  undemonstrative  in  both  demeanor  and  speech. 

Mr.  Ridgaway  opens  his  sermon  in  a  subdued  tone,  and  in  rather 
a  methodical  way.  As  he  passes  on,  however,  his  voice  rises,  and 
so  earnest  does  he  become,  that  he  frequently  steps  away  from  the 
desk  to  the  edge  of  the  pulpit,  and  indulges  in  a  strain  of  most  elo- 
quent and  animated  reasoning.  At  these  times,  even  when  speaking 
extempore,  he  has  a  great  command  of  select  and  vigorous  language. 
Word  follows  word  in  such  order,  and  the  illustration  of  the  argu- 
ment is  so  complete,  that  it  seems  that  such  a  delivery  can  only  be 
from  a  carefully  prepared  manuscript.  He  is  not  particularly  im- 
aginative, but  his  argument  takes  the  widest  range  of  logic.  He 
labors  to  convince,  and  shows  a  power  of  analysis  and  keenness  of 
reasoning  which  are  highly  creditable  to  him  both  as  a  scholar  and 
observer  of  men.  4^75 


REY.  ISAAC  RILEY, 


PA.STOTt    OF-     THE    TJHnTY-FOXIKTH    STllEET 
KEi^OKMiEO    CHURCH,    IVJiZTV  YORK!. 


EV.  ISAAC  RILEY  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
February  2d,  1835,  but  was  taken  to  Montrose,  Penn., 
at  an  early  age,  where  he  was  brought  up.  He  is  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Riley,  who  many  years  since  was 
pastor  of  one  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  New  York,  and 
subsequently  was  settled  at  Montrose  and  other  places.  His 
early  studies  were  at  Montrose.  In  1858  he  was  graduated  at  Yale 
College,  and  in  1861  at  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  Ncav  York 
city.  He  was  first  settled  as  tlie  pastor  of  the  Forest  Presbyterian 
Church,  at  Middletown,  Newcastle  county,  Delaware,  where  he  was 
ordained  and  installed  in  March,  1862.  He  remained  in  this  pastor- 
ship over  two  years,  until  October,  1864,  when  he  went  immediately 
to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  at  Potts ville,  Penn.,  where  he  la- 
bored three  years,  until  October,  1867.  At  the  latter  date  he  be- 
caaje  colleague  pastor  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joel  Parker,  at  the  Park 
Presbyterian  Church,  Newark,  N,  J.  In  September,  1868  he  accepted 
a  call  to  his  present  position,  the  Thirty-fourth  street  Reformed 
Church,  New  York,  as  the  successor  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Peter  Stryker. 
He  was  installed  on  the  last  Sunday  of  September,  1868. 

The  Tiiirty-fourth  street  Reformed  Church  has  an  interesting  his- 
tory. The  congregation  grew  out  of  a  missionary  enterprise  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  denomination,  organized  January  9th,  1822.  It 
was  the  desire  of  the  society  to  establish  preaching  near  the  corner 
of  Canal  street  and  Broadway,  "  a  part  of  the  city  then  growing 
rapidly,"  but  no  suitable  i^oom  could  be  procured,  and  the  locality 
was  changed  to  the  junction  of  Howard  and  Elm  streets,  where  a 
room  was  obtained.  Rev.  Robert  McLean  was  the  first  missionary. 
The  enterprise  prospered,  and  arrangements  were  made  to  build  a 
church  edifice  on  a  site  corner  of  Broome  and  Greene  streets.     The 

corner-stone  was  laid  in  June,  1823.     In  the  month  of  October  fol- 

476 


REV.      ISAAC     EILEY. 

lowing,  services  were  commenced  in  the  basement.  On  February  8tb, 
1824,  the  cliureli  was  dedicated,  and  in  a  few  years  had  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  influential  congregations  in  the  city.  The  whole 
cost  of  the  lots  and  building  was  sixteen  thousand  dollars.  A  debt 
of  seven  thousand  dollars  was  paid  off  in  three  or  four  years.  Tlie 
congregation  was  formally  oi-ganized  in  December,  1823,  and  Mr. 
McLean  was  called  as  the  first  pastor  in  the  folio  vving  year.  Rev. 
Dr.  Jacob  Brodhead  was  the  pastor  from  1826  to  1837 ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Samuel  A.  Yan  Vranken  from  1837  to  1841  ;  Rev.  Dr.  George 
Fisher  from  1841  to  1854  ;  Rev.  Henry  V.  Yoorhees  from  May,  1854, 
to  December,  1855,  who  resigned  bj^  reason  of  ill-health  ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Peter  Stryker  from  April,  1855,  to   1868,  a  period  of  tliirteeu  years. 

In  1859  the  church  in  Broome  street  had  accumulated  a  debt  of 
seyenteen  thousand  dollars,  and  the  congregation  was  greatly  re- 
duced in  numbers  by  the  removal  up-town  of  its  members.  In  May, 
1859,  a  union  was  effected  with  the  Livingston  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  worshiping  in  a  hall  on  the  corner  of  Thirty-third  street  and 
Eighth  avenue,  where  services  were  continued.  Meanwhile,  the 
down-town  property  was  sold,  and  eligible  building  lots  purchased 
in  Thirty -fourth,  street  The  last  service  in  the  old  church  took 
place  on  Apiil  15th,  1860,  when  Dr.  Stryker  preached  an  appropri- 
ate historical  discourse.  In  a  period  of  between  thirty-six  and  thirty- 
seven  years,  eighty  marriages  were  solemnized,  five  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  infants  baptized,  and  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  four 
members  admitted.  The  edifice  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
old-fashioned  brick  buildings,  and  many  of  the  old  residents  will  re- 
member the  throngs  of  well-to-do  people  who  flocked  to  its  altar, 
probably  not  one  of  whom  now  resides  in  that  portion  of  the  city. 

A  fine  church  building  was  erected  on  the  site  in  Thirty-fourth 
street,  and  dedicated  March  3d,  1861.  The  cost  was  some  sixty 
thousand  dollars.  A  debt  of  thirty-five  thousand  which  remained 
was  liquidated  in  three  or  lour  years.  The  church  was  built  during 
the  depression  occasioned  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  with  the 
South,  and  the  heavy  debt  seriously  threatened  the  prosperity  of  the 
congregation,  but  its  increase  was  such  that  it  was  soon  able  to  re- 
move all  embarrassment.  There  are  at  this  time  about  six  hundred 
members,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  children  in  the  Sunday 
School. 

Mr.  Riley  is  of  the  medium  height  and  well-proportioned.     His 

bead  is  of  the  average  size,  with  delicate,  regular  features.     His  com- 

477 


BEV.     ISAAC     EILET. 

plexion  is  pale,  and  he  has  light  brown  hair  and  "whiskers.  He  is 
plain  and  quiet,  while  altogether  affable  in  his  manners.  A  man  of 
perseverance  and  force,  he  is  so  passive  and  amiable  in  ordinary  in- 
tercourse that  these  only  appear  when  he  has  some  labor  to  perform. 
He  makes  neither  noise  nor  show,  and  hence  inferior  men  in  the 
same  circles  obtain  more  reputation  and  credit  He  has  never  sought 
fame,  and  never  done  other  than  rejoice  at  the  success  of  his  cotera- 
poraries.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  has  devoted  himself  with  great 
diligence  to  a  wide  and  thorough  study  for  his  profession,  and  an  en- 
lightened and  conscientious  discharge  of  duty  in  all  positions.  In  a 
word,  he  is  one  of  those  who  show  great  strength  of  mind  and  nerve 
in  duty  and  labor,  and  the  utmost  amiability  and  purity  of  character 
in  all  social  and  private  relations. 

Mr.  Eiley  is  a  young  man  in  the  ministry ;  but,  from  what  we 
have  seen  of  him  in  public  and  private,  we  think  that  he  will  prove 
himself  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  the  church.  He  preaches  no  fancies, 
but  moral  truths.  Eeligion  and  preaching  to  him  are  serious  things. 
They  are  not  matters  to  be  used  for  individual  pride  or  ambition,  but 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  saving  the  lost.  He  shows  these  convictions 
in  the  performance  of  all  his  professional  duties,  and  in  his  private 
life.  In  the  pulpit  he  is  modest  and  serious.  He  ])rays  with  his 
whole  soul — not  a  vain,  pompous  prayer,  but  the. prayer  of  faith  and 
hope.  In  his  sermons  he  is  equally  serious,  quite  argumentative, 
and  at  times  pathetic.  You  see  that  he  feels  all  that  he  says,  and 
that  he  has  but  one  purpose.  This  is  not  to  have  people  say  '■  What 
a  fine  sermon,"  "  What  a  scholar  and  orator ;"  but  he  wants  these 
old  men  and  women  to  rejoice  in  hearing  the  same  comforting  truths 
they  heard  from  a  Brodhea;!,  a  Fisher,  and  a  Stryker,  and  he  wants 
to  touch  impatient  hearts  with  saving  grace.  He  is  warm  and  earn- 
est in  his  manners  ;  he  speaks  in  those  clear  tones  which  give  the 
most  force  and  expression  to  language,  and  his  every  thought  and 
utterance  is  pure  and  holy.  Proud  onlj^  of  the  ministry  of  Christ, 
strong  only  in  the  power  of  the  gospel,  he  looks  to  the  hereafter  for 
the  only  reward  to  which  he  aspires. 


478 


EEY.  CHARLES  S.  ROBINSON,  I).  D., 

CHURCH,     2VETV    YORK!. 


EY.  DR  CHARLES  S.  EOBINSON  was  bom  at  Benning- 
ton, Vermont,  March  31st,  1829.  He  was  graduated  at 
"Williams  College,  Massachusetts,  in  1849,  and  studied 
theology  privately  in  New  York  city,  and  then  passed  a 
year  and  a  half  at  Princeton  Seminary.  He  was  or.  ained  a 
'--S  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  by  the  Presbytery  of  Troy, 
June  14th,  1855,  and  at  the  same  time  installed  pastor  of  the  Park 
Presbyteiian  Church  of  that  place.  At  the  termination  of  about  five 
vears  and  a  half  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  First  New  School  Presby- 
terian Church,  Brooklyn,  formerly  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  the 
celebrated  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  commencing  his  new  labors 
March  1st,  1860.  He  continued  with  this  large  and  influential  con- 
gregation for  several  years.  The  broken  health  of  his  wife  obliged 
a  foreign  voyage,  when  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  American 
Chapel  in  Paris,  where  he  remained  three  years.  He  was  then  called 
to  the  Memorial  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York,  formerly  called  the 
Eleventh  Presbyterian  Church. 

This  Church  was  organized  by  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  May  13th,  1839,  and  consisted  of  eighty-nine  mem.bers,  who 
had  been  dismissed  from  the  Seventh  Presbyterian  Church  and  the 
Manhattan  Island  Presbyterian  Church  for  that  purpose.  In  July, 
1839,  Rev.  Mason  Noble  entered  upon  his  duties  as  the  first  pastor. 
For  three  yeai-s  their  place  of  worship  was  an  edifice  in  Fourth  street, 
formerly  occupied  by  the  Manhattan  Island  Presbyterian  Church.  A 
new  church  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  street  and  Avenue  C, 
which  was  dedicated  in  October,  1842.  On  January  8th,  1850, 
thirty-one  members  were  dismissed  to  form  the  Union  Congregational 
Chui'ch.  In  the  spring  of  1850,  Mr.  Noble  was  released  from  his 
pastoral  relations  to  the  church,  having  accepted  a  call  to  a  church  in 

Baltimore.    During  his  ministiy  of  about  eleven  years  three  hundred 

479 


REV.      CHARLES     S.      ROBINSON,     D.  D. 

and  eighty-four  persons  united  with  the  church,  of  which  one  "huTi- 
dred  and  sixty  were  received  on  profession  of  their  faith.  Eev.  J. 
Parsons  Hovey  commenced  his  labors  as  pastor  in  Jul^^,  1850.  After 
an  earnest  ministry  of  thirteen  years,  he  was  called  to  his  reward 
December  16th,  1863.  In  the  winter  of  1863  the  church  building 
was  sold,  and  the  church  and  society  removed  to  a  house  of  worship 
on  Fifty-fifth  street,  between  Third  and  Lexington  Avenues.  This 
edifice  has  been  sold,  and  what  is  known  as  the  Memorial  Presbyterian 
Church  was  erected  for  the  congregation,  on  the  corner  of  Madison 
Avenue  and  Fifty-third  street. 

About  one  third  of  a  century  has  elapsed  since  the  Old  School 
and  the  New  School  oppc^sition  parties  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  these  United  States  separated  after  a  long  controversy  and  became 
distinct  communities.  On  both  sides  there  were  a.ble  and  sincere 
men  who  deeply  regi-etted  the  division,  but  saw  no  way  to  avoid  it 
For  years  earnest  efforts  were  made  to  bring  about  a  reunion  of  the 
two  branches.  In  the  year  1869  the  Old  and  New  School  General 
Assemblies  met  almost  within  speaking  distance  in  New  York — one 
in  the  Brick  Church  on  Murray  Hill,  the  other  at  Park  avenue  Pres- 
byterian church.  The  movement  toward  union  happily  culminated 
the  following  year  at  Philadelphia.  The  bodies  formerly  one  house- 
hold, but  long  sundered  by  questions  of  doctrine  and  polity,  became 
one  again  after  a  generation  of  separate  and  often  rival  action,  to  the 
great  joy  of  the  Presbyterians  of  the  country.  In  commemoration 
of  this  notable  event  the  congregation  of  Rev.  Dr.  Robinson's  church 
resolved  to  erect  a  Memorial  Temple,  in  which  to  worship  in  the 
future.  The  plan  was  carried  out  by  the  erection  of  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  church  edifices  of  the  city,  costing  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars,  which  was  dedicated  on  Sunduj^,  January  26th,  1872. 

The  Memorial  church  is  a  stone  structure  125  feet  front  by  120 

feet  deep.     It  is  built  in  the  round  Gothic  style.    The  Church  covers 

80  feet  front;    the  remaining  45    are   occupied  by  a  lecture-room, 

connected  with  the  cburch  by  a  common  entrance.    At  the  corner  of 

Madison  avenue  rises  the  tower  to  the  height  of  90  feet,  and  the  spire, 

both  constructed  of  stone.     The  distance  from  the  sidewalk  to  the 

iron  finial  to  surmount  the  latter  will  be  220  feet.     The  spire  is 

peculiar,  and  differs  in  most  respects  from  all  others  in  the  city.     On 

the  south  of  the  main  building  is  a  smaller  tower,  also  entirely  of 

stone,  eighty-five  feet  in  height. 

Dr.  Robinson  has  published  various  sermons,  and  is  the  compiler 

480 


EEV.     CHARLES     S.     ROBINSOJST,     D.  D. 

of  a  book  of  hymns  used  in  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
churches,  entitled  "Songs  of  the  Church;  or,  Hymns  and  Tunes  for 
Sacred  Worship."  He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Hamilton 
College. 

Dr.  Robinson  is  slightly  under  the  medium  height,  with  an  erect, 
graceful  figure.  His  head  and  features  are  small,  but  the  latter  are 
well  defined,  and  of  a  classical  mold.  He  is  one  of  those  men  in 
which  the  physical  development  borders  on  the  delicacy  of  effeminacy, 
and  the  mental  predominates  in  the  expression,  in  refined  finish  of 
feature,  and  in  the  cultivation  of  the  general  appearance  and  manners. 
He  looks  the  gentleman,  the  man  of  refinement  and  culture,  and  the 
man  of  exalted  sentiments  and  correct  practices,  and  his  looks  in  no 
case  belie  him.  In  his  disposition  he  is  of  a  cheerful  tempeiament, 
tending  very  frequently  to  broad  humor.  He  is  disposed,  in  his 
domestic  and  social  intercourse,  to  impart  sprightliness  and  mirth  ful- 
ness to  every  occasion  when  it  may  be  proper,  and  does  this  by  an 
inexhaustible  fund  of  happy,  genial,  merry  thoughts  and  sayings. 
He  has  a  way  of  talking  in  the  semi-humorous,  ironical  stjde  which  not 
only  imparts  much  amusement,  but  shows  the  quickness  with  which 
he  can  give  a  cheerful  shading  to  every  picture.  He  is  by  no  means 
a  heedless,  frivolous  person,  for  all  this  geniality  is  marked  by  culture, 
and  an  entire  propriety  as  to  seasons,  places,  and  persons. 

Dr.  Robinson  certainly  illustrates  the  more  attractive  phase  of 
Christian  character.  The  human  heart,  no  matter  how  deeply  bowed 
in  penitence,  is  more  readily  influenced  by  the  counsellor  who  warms 
it  with  touches  most  akin  to  nature  itself  The  religionist  may  take 
it  warm,  sensitive,  and  quivering  to  the  touch,  and  he  may  think  this 
very  condition  most  suitable  for  his  purpose  of  molding  it  to  his 
despotic  creed  and  unyielding  discipline.  And  he  may  readily  ac- 
complish all  that  he  seeks.  But  when  his  work  is  accomplished,  the 
subject  of  his  experiment  has  no  more  a  human  heart  than  the 
Chinese  woman  has  perfect  feet  after  they  have  been  contracted, 
bruised,  and  formed  in  an  iron  shoe.  A  heart  without  a  joyous  ap- 
preciation of  the  life  given  of  Grod,  and  willing  and  capable  of  yield- 
ing to  its  cheerful  influences,  is  a  heart  dead  to  natui-al  impulses,  a 
mere  skeleton  of  its  natural  proportions,  and  a  tenant-house  of  morbid 
sentimentality  instead  of  inspiring  joys.  The  glooms  of  religion, 
and  the  prudishness  of  some  of  its  ministers,  to  all  that  is  genial, 
mirthful,  and  worldly,  have  produced  just  this  wreck  of  many  a  noble 

heart,  and  saddened  many  a  glorious  nature.    In  view  of  this  lament- 

481 


REV.      CHARLES     S.     ROBINSON,     D.  D. 

able  fact,  it  is  the  more  satisfactory  to  meet  a  person  like  Dr.  Robinson, 
who  bears  a  sunny  face,  and  is  not  averse  to  showing  nature  in  its 
truly  genial  characteristics.  Those  who  come  in  contact  with  him 
are  none  the  less  impressed  with  all  that  his  religious  instruction  can 
teach,  while  they  are  made  alive  to  tlie  beauty  of  the  gladsome  heart 

Dr.  Robinson  is  an  eloquent,  forcible  preacher.  His  sermons  are 
argumentative,  and  he  will  make  no  sacrifice  whatever  to  declamation, 
but  his  mode  of  handling  his  subject  is  so  original  and  scholarly,  and 
so  graphic  and  cliaste  is  his  language,  that  he  is  very  successful  in 
arresting  the  undivided  attention  of  an  audience.  He  becomes  greatly 
absorbed  in  his  theme,  and  evidently  labors  for  its  full  and  clear 
understanding  by  every  hearer.  There  is  a  total  want  of  oratorical 
effort^  but  not  of  oratorical  effect.  He  has  a  natural,  unrestrained,  un- 
tutored delivery ;  he  speaks  in  an  easy,  free,  and  conversational 
manner,  and  still  there  are  modulations,  pauses,  and  bursts  of 
eloquence  which  impart  universal  power  to  preaching  of  his  particular 
kind.  In  judging  him  the  critic  would  say  that  he  was  lacking  in 
nuch  that  completes  the  orator,  and  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  he  has  most  effective  powers  in  reaching  the  heart  and  in- 
telligence. When  he  has  fully  elaborated  his  subject  he  seems  con- 
tent. All  his  display,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  is  in  the  chasteness 
and  grace  of  his  expressions,  and  he  seldom  tarries  for  those  23assages 
of  fine  writing  which  lead  to  brilliant  sj^eaking.  Scholarly  without 
being  pedantic,  plain  without  being  common-place,  argumentative 
without  being  tedious,  he  presents  the  most  valuable  combination  of 
characteristics  which  can  exist  in  the  man  seeking  the  salvation  of 
souls  rather  than  personal  triumphs.  These  latter,  however,  though 
never  sought,  are  constant,  and  from  the  circumstance  of  being  un- 
sought, adorn  with  that  pure  luster  which  always  belongs  to  those 
who  are  humble  of  great  talent. 

Warm-hearted  and  genial  as  the  man,  versatile  and  thorough  in 
his  accomplishments  as  the  scholar,  successful  and  of  growing  fame 
as  the  minister,  Dr,  Robinson  holds  a  well-deserved  place  as  one  of 
the  most  appreciable  and  talented  men  of  the  day.  The  experienced 
shepherd  of  a  numerous  and  ]3i"ecious  flock,  he  is  ever  alert  in  works 
of  faithfulness  and  faith,  and  ever  binding  more  closely  the  bonds 
of  personal  friendships  and  public  approbation. 

482 


^^€ 


REY.   J.  EDSOi\  ROCKWELL,  D.  D., 


EV.  J.  EDSON  ROCKWELL,  D.  R,  was  bom  at  Salisbury, 
Vt.,  May  4tli,  1816.  He  bumorously  says  that  lie  was 
in  Yermont  just  long  enough  to  be  born  there,  Hudson,  in 
the  state  of  New  York,  having  been  the  home  of  his  early 
life.  He  was  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in  1837,  and  at  the 
2^  New  York  Theological  Seminary  in  1841.  In  October  of  the  same 
year  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  Yalatia,  New  York,  in  connection  with  the  New  School 
Presbytery  of  Columbia.  He  remained  with  this  charge  until  called 
to  the  Hanover  street  New  School  Presbyterian  Church,  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  where  he  commenced  his  duties  March  21st,  1847.  Nearly 
five  years  later,  on  the  13th  of  February,  1851,  he  was  installed 
pastor  of  the  Central  Old  School  Presbyterian  Church  of  Brooklyn, 
then  located  in  Willoughby  street.  The  congregation,  after  many 
trials,  in  which  they  were  continually  called  upon  to  appreciate  the 
cheerful  hope  and  untiring  energy  of  their  pastor,  were  enabled  to 
build  a  tasteful  and  spacious  edifice  in  Schermerhorn  street,  seating 
one  thousand  persons,  which  was  dedicated  December  10th,  1S54. 
The  cost  of  the  whole  property  was  about  thirty -four  thousand  dollars. 
When  Dr.  Rockwell  entered  upon  his  duties,  the  congregation  num- 
bered only  one  hundred  and  twenty  members,  while  thirteen  years 
later  the  number  was  four  hundred  and  sixty,  and  during  the  same 
time  nearly  six  hundred  had  joined,  three  hundred  of  whom  were 
admitted  on  profession  of  faith.  His  degree  of  D.  D.  was  received 
from  Jeffei*son  College,  in  1859.  After  eighteen  years  of  ministerial 
labor,  half  of  which  had  been  devoted  to  the  Central  congi-egation, 
impaired  health  induced  him  to  obtain  leave  of  absence,  and  on  the 
7th  of  May,  1859,  in  company  with  his  wife  and  a  mutual  fiiend,  he 
took  his  departure  for  Europe,  where  he  passed  five  months  in  travel. 
He  spent  some  time  in  ministering  to  the  soldiers  in  the  field,  in  the 

483 


REV.     J.     EDSON     ROCKWELL,     D.  D. 

service  of  the  Christian  CommissioiL  Several  years  since  Dr.  Rock- 
well became  pastor  of  the  Edgewater  Presbyterian  Church,  Staten 
Island,  K  Y.,  where  he  has  passed  a  happy  and  useful  pastorate. 

Dr.  Rockwell  is  a  constant  contributor  to  the  religious  and  secular 
press.  He  has  pablished  several  works— viz :  "  Sketches  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church;"  "Young  Christian  Warned;"  "The  Sheet 
Anchor,"  a  little  book  for  sailors  ;  "  The  Visitor's  Questions,"  a  Sun- 
day-school book;  "Scenes  and  Impressions  Abroad;"  "Seed 
Thoughts;"  and  "The  Diamond  in  the  Cage."  The  last  named  is 
the  fruit  of  thirty  years  of  labor  among  Sunday  School  children. 
;During  a  period  of  eight  years  the  "  Sunday  School  Visitor,"  a  publi- 
cation of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  was  edited  by  Dr.  Rockwell.  He 
has  also  published  a  variety  of  occasional  sermons  and  addresses, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  "  A  Plea  for  the  Eldership  ;"  "  The 
Day  at  Hand,"  an  address ;  "  Christ  Walking  on  the  Waters  ;"  "  A 
Plea  for  the  Sailor," 

We  make  the  following  extracts  from  the  address  entitled  "  The 
Day  at  Hand,"  delivered  before  the  Synod  of  New  York,  by  its  ap- 
pointment, in  the  Scotch  Chui'ch.  New  York,  October  2od,  1862  : 

"  Amid  much  that  is  dark,  and  surrounded  by  scenes  of  peril  and  trial,  we  may 
yet  look  out  upon  tlie  great  fields  of  Christian  labor,  and  feel  that  the  signs  of  the 
times  are  giving  promise  of  good.  In  all  the  history  of  the  past,  the  church  has  never 
had  so  much  to  encourage  her.  God's  people  have  never  seen  so  much  to  strengthen 
their  faith,  and  to  call  forth  their  full  and  united  efforts  for  the  extension  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ.  The  Bible  is  now  translated  into  every  tongue,  and  is  waiting 
to  be  sent  to  every  creati;re,  with  all  its  precious  messages  of  mercy.  More  than 
forty-eight  millions  of  copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  have  been  published  during  the 
present  century,  which  are  being  circulated,  not  alone  by  all  the  varied  agencies  in 
Christian  lands,  but  by  inore  than  sixteen  hundred  missionaries,  and  more  than  six- 
teen thousand  native  preachers  and  teachers,  who  have  been  converted  to  God,  and 
educated  for  his  service,  from  the  midst  of  heathen  degradation.  Divine  Providence 
lias,  in  the  most  wonderful — and  often  in  the  most  unlooked-for  manner — removed  out 
of  the  way  obstacles  which  seemed  to  be  insurmountable  in  the  progress  of  Christian 
missions,  so  that  there  is  now  free  access  to  every  part  of  the  heathen  world.  The 
silence  of  the  remotest  sea  is  now  broken  by  the  plash  of  the  steamer,  the  herald  of 
civilization,  and  the  agent  of  Christian  nations,  in  bearing  their  influence  to  every 
land  and  nation.  Commerce  and  the  intrepid  zeal  of  science  have  broken  in  upon 
African  wilds  and  Asiatic  solitudes,  and  opened  to  the  world  vast  regions,  peopled 
with  teeming  millions,  which  have  been  hitherto  unvisited  and  unknown.  The  walls 
of  China  are  broken  down  ;  Japan  is  openmg  to  the  Gospel;  Africa  is  already  feeling 
the  influence  of  commerce  in  elevating  her  jieople,  and  is  opening  vast  mines  ot 
wealth  hitherto  unknown,  which  will  attract  to  her  shores  not  the  ships  of  the  slave- 
trader,  but  merchant  fleets  engaged  in  honorable  and  civilized  traffic,  under  whose 
influence  that  mighty  continent  may  regain  her  ancient  prestige,  when  Carthage  was 

484 


REV.     J.     EDSON     ROCKWELL,     D.  D. 

the  empire  of  commerce,  and  Egypt  the  mother  of  science.  Mahomeclan  prejudices 
against  Christian  nations  are  fast  going  away  before  the  influence  of  national  inter- 
communion, and  the  fierce  fanaticism  with  which  the  Turkish  and  Persian  and 
Moorish  nations  have  met  the  advances  of  Christian  kindness  and  courtesy  is  yield- 
ing before  the  advance  of  light  and  truth,  while  amid  the  millions  of  the  Papal 
world  there  is  going  on  a  wondrous  change,  which  is  rapidly  opening  their  minds  to 
the  blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty." 

The  following  extract,  descriptive  of  the  Bay  of  Naples,  from 
"  Scenes  and  Impressions  Abroad,"  will  show  how  happy  the  author 
has  been  in  delineating  his  observations  of  travel : 

"The  beautiful  indentations  of  the  shore  which  forms  the  Bay  of  Naples  com- 
merces on  the  north,  at  the  Cape  of  Miseno,  and,  sweeping  round  in  a  most  gi'aceful 
curve  towards  the  east  and  south,  terminates  at  the  Capo  Delia  Camijanella,  making 
a  circuit  of  thirty-five  miles. 

"As  our  ship  rounds  the  northern  headland,  there  come  rapidly  into  view  beauti- 
ful and  bold  shores,  covered  with  Italian  villas,  palaces,  gardens,  and  convents,  until 
the  whole  of  this  magnificent  bay  bursts  upon  the  view,  and  presents  a  scene  which 
has,  perhaps  no  equal,  and  which  no  pen  can  describe.  Almost  in  the  centre  of  this 
glorious  picture,  Vesuvius,  its  head  wreathed  by  the  dark  clouds  of  smoke  which 
ceaselessly  roll  up  fi-om  its  crater,  rises  majestically  from  a  lovely  valley.  As  the  eye 
sweejDs  round  the  beautiful  coast,  it  takes  in  a  series  of  villages  and  hamlets,  peeping 
out  from  groves  of  orange,  citron,  and  olive  trees,  while  behind  them  the  distant 
hills  rise  in  graceful  outlines,  and  mountains,  softened  by  distance  and  mellowed  by 
the  indescribable  glow  of  an  Italian  atmosphere,  shut  in  the  lovely  scene. 

"Turning  from  this  picture,  to  which  words  do  no  justice,  we  catch  our  first  view 
of  the  city  of  Naples,  which  lies  upon  a  smaller  indentation  of  the  bay.  Dashing 
by  lines  of  forts  and  castles,  tlirough  fleets  of  small  vessels,  with  the  peculiar 
Oriental  model  of  the  Mediterranean,  which  are  lying  quietly  at  anchor,  just  as  the 
morning  bugle  is  arouaing  the  soldiers  of  the  castles,  and  the  guns  of  the  ships  of 
war  are  thundering  over  the  waters,  we  come  to  anchor  under  the  range  of  one  of  the 
batteries,  and  opposite  the  custom-liouse  of  Naples.  During  the  long  hours  we 
spend  in  waiting  for  the  return  of  our  passports,  which  have  been  sent  on  shore  to 
the  police,  we  ami:se  ourselves  by  watching  the  small  boats  which  surround  the  ship, 
filled  with  fruit  or  other  edibles,  or  laden  with  musicians  who  have  all  the  airs  of 
opera  singers,  and  who  have  come  out  to  pick  lap  a  few  pence  for  their  performances. 
At  last  the  officers  of  the  government  are  satisfied,  and  we  arc  pennitted  to  debark. 
Small  boats  now  swarm  about  the  vessel  like  leeches,  and  the  boatmen  tender  their 
services  most  pertinaciously." 

Dr.  Eockwell  is  about  the  medium  height,  and  equally  propor- 
tioned. He  has  an  active  step,  and  his  whole  manner  bespeaks  him 
to  be  a  person  of  qujck  impulses,  and  earnest,  practical  energy.  His 
severe  labors  of  the  ministry  and  occasonal  ill-health  have  given  him 
the  look  of  his  full  age.  Intercourse  with  him,  however,  shows  his 
spu'its  to  have  the  buoyancy  and  elasticity  of  youth,  and  his  resolution 
is  as  rigid  as  his  hopefulness  is  inspiring.  His  eyes  are  clear,  calm» 
and  particularly  expressive  of  kind  and  Christian  sympathies,  to  which 

485 


REV.     J.     EDSON     ROCKWELL,     D.  D. 

is  added  a  flitting  smile  of  surpassing  gentleness.  The  brow  is  broad, 
high,  and  full,  and  there  is  a  contraction  between  the  eyes,  outward 
evidences  of  the  habit  of  severe  and  constant  thought.  All  the 
features  are  prominent,  while  uniform,  and  the  entire  face  is  not  less 
striking  from  physical  than  intellectual  attractiveness. 

Dr.  Eoclvwell  is  a  man  of  fine  abilities,  and  ranks  with  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  his  denomination.  His  mind  is  largely  stored 
with  the  gains  of  a  comprehensive  and  unremitting  student-life,  be- 
sides which  he  is  a  most  intelligent  and  critical  observer  of  daily 
life.  There  is  nothing  speculative  about  him,  nothing  which  has  not 
as  well  a  practical,  common-sense  basis,  as  one  laid  in  truth,  morality 
and  religion.  Inflexible  in  principle,  pure  and  exalted  in  design,  just 
and  liberal  in  his  judgment,  he  deceives  no  man  with  sophistries  any 
more  than  personally  he  heeds  the  temptations  of  evil.  Frank  aud 
truthful  in  his  nature,  he  brings  everything  in  culture  and  in  life  to 
the  test  of  the  honest  hearty  and  no  other  standard.  Nobly  conspicuous 
with  this  trait,  and  beloved  for  it,  he  proclaims  his  doctrines  of  faith, 
and  leads  trusting  souls  to  redemption. 

His  style  of  preaching  is  plain  in  matter  and  manner,  though 
always  marked  by  animation  and  a  degree  of  eloquence.  He  uses 
well-worded,  expressive  sentences,  often  made  most  touchingly  tender 
by  pathos  and  pastoral  love.  He  gesticulates  a  great  deal,  but  with 
excellent  taste  and  effect.  The  Presbyterian  ministry  has  men  more 
showy  in  declamation,  and  enjoying  a  larger  share  of  public  attention 
than  Dr.  Eockwell,  but  the  whole  Christian  ministry  cannot  produce 
one  more  upright  and  faithful.  Grifted  with  talents  and  adorned  with 
virtues,  he  is  found  to  be  only  proud  of  his  place  among  those  who 
meekly  bear  the  cross. 

486 


REV.  EBENEZER  P.  ROGERS,  D.  ])., 

pastor  of  the  south  refoit]m:ei>  chiuuch, 

ne:av  York:. 


)EV.  DR  EBENEZER  P.  EOGERS  is  a  native  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  and  over  fifty  years  of  age.  He  was 
called  to  the  South  Reformed  Church,  New  York,  from  a 
Presbyterian  church  in  Albany  about  twelve  years  since. 
The  South  Church  was  originally  located  in  Exchange 
Place,  than  called  Garden  street,  in  the  extreme  Southern  portion 
of  the  city,  and  some  two  miles  and  a  half  from  the  present  location. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Matthews  was  the  first  pastor,  having  as  his  colleague 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Hutton.  A  considerable  representation  of  the  wealth 
and  influence  of  the  day  was  to  be  found  in  the  congregation.  The 
great  fire  of  1835  swept  away  the  church  edifice,  and  the  congregation 
became  greatly  agitated,  and  finally  divided  on  the  question  of  build- 
ing on  a  site  up-town.  At  length  an  arrangement  was  made,  by 
which  the  property  was  divided,  and  a  portion  of  the  congregation, 
bearing  the  old  name,  built  a  church  on  the  corner  of  Murray  and 
Church  streets,  and  forty-nine  other  members,  with  the  two  pastors, 
organized  a  new  congregation  in  the  Chapel  of  the  University,  and 
subsequently  erected  a  very  fine  edifice  on  Washington  Sqaare,  where 
Dr.  Hutton  still  officiates.  After  some  years  the  Murray  Street  con- 
gregation sold  their  building,  and  erected  a  new  church  on  the  corner 
of  Fifth  avenue  and  Twenty-first  street,  nearly  a  mile  beyond  the  site 
of  their  former  co-members,  on  Washington  Square,  which  had  been 
considered  too  far  up-town.  Such,  in  fact,  in  a  fpw  years  had  been 
the  up-town  movement  of  the  people  that  up-town  churches  had  be- 
come again  down-town  churches.  The  edifice  of  the  South  Church 
is  a  tasteful  and  spacious  brick  structure,  and  occupies  one  of  the 
most  accessible,  and  at  the  same  time  select  localities  for  a  building 
of  the  kind  in  New  York.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Macauley,  the  younger, 
was  the  pastor  for  a  number  of  years,  and  on  his  retirement,  Professor 

487 


REV.    EBENEZEE    P.    EOGERS,    D.  D. 

Hitchcock  officiated  for  some  time,  until  Dr.  Sogers  was  called.  The 
congregation  has  largely  increased  under  Di-.  Kogers'  ministration, 
and  now  ranks  with  the  most  numerous  of  the  city.  A  few  yeai's 
since  Dr.  Eogers  made  an  extended  tour  in  Europe.  He  is  one  of 
the  six  members  of  the  Publishing  Committee  of  the  American  Tract 
Society. 

He  is  about  the  medium  heiglit,  well-proportioned,  erect,  and 
altogether  of  an  imposing  figure.  His  head  is  ro&nd  and  intellectual, 
and  his  face  is  amiable  and  cheerful  in  its  expressions.  He  is  a  man 
of  great  courtesy  of  manners,  but  of  an  ever-present  and  sometimes 
formal  dignity.  His  clerical  and  learned  character  appears  to  you  at 
once,  and  is  thoroughly  supported  under  all  circumstances.  Some 
men  are  exactly  suited  by  nature  for  their  calling,  and  Dr.  Rogers  is 
one  of  these.  The  gravity  of  manners,  the  solemnity  of  speech,  and 
the  true  deportment  of  the  clergyman,  are  fully  exhibited  by  him. 
The  height  and  breadth,  the  model  and  portrait  of  the  clerical  character 
are  perfectly  fitted  in  every  respect,  and  he  stands  not  only  worthy 
of  all  credit  in  his  own  person,  but  an  example  to  his  brethren.  He 
seems  and  acts  the  divine  scholar  and  teacher  with  an  ease  which  is 
natural  to  him,  and  in  a  manner  which  gives  force  and  impressiveness 
to  his  teachings  and  example. 

Dr.  Eogers  preaches  a  plainly  worded  and  practical  sermon.  He 
evidently  feels  that  preaching  imposed  upon  him  one  self-evident 
duty,  and  that  is  to  call  sinners  to  repentance.  Should  his  sermons 
be  examined  for  correctness  and  beauty  of  the  language,  as  to  the 
force  and  clearness  of  the  arguments, — and  generally  as  an  earnest, 
prayerful  appeal  of  the  Christian  teacher,  they  will  be  found  entitled 
to  all  praise.  They  meet  the  highest  requirements  of  preaching,  and 
are,  undoubtedly,  conducive  to  great  good. 

Dr.  Rogers  has  much  animation  in  the  pulpit,  both  in  voice  and 
gesture.  He  becomes  much  absorbed  in  his  theme,  and  he  speaks 
with  the  full  fervor  of  his  voice  and  devout  convictions.  Many  of 
his  gestures  are  pai'ticularly  vehement,  such  as  uplifting  his  hands 
toward  heaven,  etc.  His  voice  has  full  compass,  but  is  somewhat 
wanting  in  smoothness  and  mellowness.  He  is  an  active  man  in  his 
church,  and  exerts  a  large  influence  in  all  the  religious  organizations 
with  which  he  is  connected.  He  shows  great  judgment  in  all  his 
efforts,  and  personally  takes  no  heed  of  the  atmost  degree  of  pains- 
taking toiL  488 


KEY.  STEALY   B.  ROSSITER, 

I?A©TOK     OF     THE     IVOHTII      I>llE©BYTEIiIA.]V 
CHU15CIX,    TVE^V    YORK.. 


STEALY  B.  EOSSITER  was  born  at  Berne,  Albany 
County,  New  York,  May  22d,  1842,  He  was  graduated 
at  Union  College,  Schenectady,  in  1865,  and  at  the 
Union  Theological  Seminar}^,  New  York,  in  1869.  His 
ordination  to  the  ministry  was  in  connection  with  the 
Albany  Presbytery,  bnt  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey.  He  remained  in  this 
pastorship  until  June  16th,  1869,  when  he  came  to  the  North 
Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York,  over  which  he  was  installed  Sep- 
tember 21st,  1873. 

A  church  of  eight  males  and  eight  females  was  organised  June 
27th,  1847,  by  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  assisted  by  Rev. 
Wm.  Adams,  D.  D.,  and  the  Rev.  W.  Roosevelt.  It  received  the 
name  of  "  The  North  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of  New 
York."  The  congregation  became  a  religious  incorporation  in  due 
fonn  September  18th,  1847.  Preaching  had  been  for  some  time 
held  in  the  chapel  of  the  Institution  for  the  Blind,  then  in  one  of  the 
rural  districts  of  the  city,  A  free  lease  of  four  full  lots  of  ground  on 
the  soutli  side  of  Thirty-second  street,  between  the  Eighth  and  Ninth 
avenues,  was  obtained  from  Mr.  James  Boorman,  for  seven  years 
from  May  1st,  1848,  which  was  subsequently  extended  to  nine 
years.  A  temporary  house  of  worship  was  completed  in  April  fol- 
lowing, at  a  cost  of  $3,200.  It  was  a  frame  building,  about  forty  by 
sixty  feet,  with  a  short  central  tower  in  front.  It  contained  seventy- 
five  pews,  and  had  a  front  gallery.  The  house  was  built  in  the 
open  field,  on  a  hill-side,  known  formerly  as  "  Strawberry  Hill."  The 
first  public  worship  took  place  April  13th,  1849.  The  congregation 
prospered,  and  in  1856  measures  were  taken  to  erect  a  more  substan- 
tial and  commodious  house  of  worship.     By  the  noble  munificence 

489 


REV.     STEALY    B.    ROSSITER. 

of  Mr.  James  Boorman,  tLe  congregation  was,  on  the  Isfc  of  May  fol- 
lowing, put  into  free  and  full  possession  of  four  full  lots  of  ground, 
ninety-eight  feet  nine  inches  by  one  hundred  feet,  on  the  northeast 
corner  of  Ninth  avenue  and  Thirty-first  street.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  June  19th,  1856,  and  the  lecture-room  was  opened  for  reli- 
gious services  November  16th  of  the  same  year.  The  new  church 
was  completed  and  opened  for  public  worship  March  29th,  1857,  and 
cost,  with  the  organ  and  other  furniture,  $45,759  28.  It  is  built  of 
stone,  ninety-one  by  sixty-six  feet,  with  a  tower  projection  of  four 
feet,  and  a  central  spire  rising  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty-two  feet.  The  interior  is  finished  in  fresco.  It  Ims  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  pews  on  the  main  floor,  and  sixty  on  the  side- 
galleries,  which  will  accommodate  one  thousand  adult  persons.  The 
organ  gallery  is  in  front,  and  disconnected  from  the  others.  The 
house  is  lighted  at  night  from  the  ceiling.  The  old  church  was  sold 
to  the  Northwest  Presbyterian  church  for  $600,  and  soon  after  re- 
moved to  Fiftieth  street,  near  Broadway. 

Eev.  Washington  Eoosevelt  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  North 
Church,  remaining  from  1849  to  1856,  when  he  was  succeeded  by 
Eev.  Dr.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  who  remained  a  number  of  years.  The 
Eev.  Thomas  Street  was  next  called,  and  served  a  very  efficient  pas- 
torship, until  compelled  by  impaired  health  to  resign  in  May,  1873. 
Mr.  Eossiter  found  the  church  still  strong  in  membership,  and  its 
usefulness  promises  to  continue  under  his  own  ministry. 

Mr.  Eossiter  is  rather  over  the  medium  height,  sparely  propor- 
tioned, and  erect.  He  has  fair  hair  and  complexion.  The  face  is 
small,  but  the  upper  portion  of  the  head  is  well  developed,  and  shows 
brain-power.  His  manners  are  frank  and  courteous.  He  is  undoubt- 
edly, a  man  of  a  great  deal  of  modesty  and  good  judgment  in  regard  to 
all  his  actions.  As  a  preacher  he  excels  in  the  fervor  of  feeling  which 
marks  the  thoroughly  religious  mind  and  heart.  He  speaks  fluently, 
while  his  agreeable  voice  and  well-chosen  gestures  give  force  and 
effect  to  every  word  that  he  utters.  But  the  most  noticeable  feature 
of  his  preaching  is  its  earnest  and  affectionate  appeal  to  the  uncon- 
verted. As  a  man  and  a  minister  his  sole  ambition  is  to  save  souls. 
The  glow  of  his  eloquence  and  the  logic  of  his  arguments,  all  arise 
from  this  one  impulse,  and  hence  be  preaches  at  once  with  sincerity 

and  effectiveness. 

490 


REV.  JAMES  H.  RYLANCE,   D.  D., 

RECTOR     OF     ST.    MI^RKl'S    33 1»ISCOJt»^L    CHURCH, 
NEW     YORK:. 


EV.  DR.  JAMES  H.  EYLANCE  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Manchester,  England,  June  16th,  1826.  He  was  gradu- 
ated at  King's  College,  London,  in  1858.  He  took  holy 
orders  as  deacon  in  1861,  and  priest  in  1862,  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Westminster.  He  was  first  settled  at  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Southwark,  London,  and  remained  there  about  two 
years.  At  the  solicitation  of  the  late  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  Dr. 
Rylance  then  came  to  the  United  States,  and,  having  transferred  his 
ecclesiastical  connection  to  the  diocese  of  Ohio,  became  rector  of  St 
Paul's  Church,  Cleveland,  where  he  labored  for  three  years  and 
eight  months.  He  then  went  to  St.  James'  Church,  Chicago,  re- 
maining the  same  length  of  time.  At  Easter,  1871,  he  entered  upon 
his  present  rectorship  of  the  ancient  parish  of  St.  Mark's,  New  York. 
He  is  an  associate  of  King's  College,  haviwg  the  title  of  A.  K.  C, 
and  in  1867  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  Western  Reserve 
University.  He  wrote  and  published  in  England  "  Preachers  and 
Preaching;  "  a  critique  by  a  "Dear  Hearer,"  and  was  a  contributor 
to  the  Homilist^  published  in  L(mdon.  He  has  also  published  vari- 
ous sermons  ;  more  recently  he  has  delivered  before  his  congregation 
several  series  of  very  able  lectures  on  religious  topics. 

"  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  St.  Mark  in  the  Bowery, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,"  its  original  and  legal  title,  has  an  inter- 
esting history.  The  ground  is  a  part  of  the  bouwery,  or  farm,  owned 
by  Governor  Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  last  of  the  Dutch  rulers  of  New 
York,  which  covered  a  greater  portion  of  the  present  Eleventh  and 
Seventeenth  wards,  and  a  section  of  the  Sixteenth.  He  was  a  Chris- 
tian man,  and  a  member  and  ruling  elder  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  de- 
nomination, and  on  this  site  erected  a  chapel  for  the  accommodation 
of  his  family,  and  the  few  residents  in  the  neighborhood.  Stuy 
vesant  arrived  in  1647,  but  it  is  not  known  when  the  chapel  was 
built.  The  earliest  date  connected  with  its  existence  is  1660.  When 
the  Rev.  Henry   Selyus  came  out  from  Holland  to  be  the  Dutch 

i91 


REV.     JAMES    H.     RYLANCE,     D  .  D. 

minister  in  New  York,  Governor  Stuyvesant  arranged  for  him  to 
preach  a  portion  of  the  time  in  the  chapel ;  and  other  clergj'men  who 
came  over,  did  the  same  thing,  A  vault  was  built  under  the  chapel, 
which  is  the  Stuyvesant  family  burial-place  to  this  day.  After  the 
decease  of  the  Governor  and  his  wife,  the  chapel  was  unoccupied, 
and  fell  into  decay.  In  1793,  Mr.  Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  great-grand- 
son of  tlie  Governor,  took  means  to  induce  the  vestry  of  Tihiitj 
Church  to  organize  a  new  parish,  and  build  a  church  on  tins  site. 
He  offered  to  contribute  eight  hundred  pounds,  and  a  lot  of  land 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  width,  and  one  hundred  and  ninety  in 
length.  On  the  19th  of  Jul}^,  1795,  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church 
agreed  to  raise  five  thousand  pounds  for  the  proposed  building. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  the  25th  of  April,  1795,  and  the 
church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Samuel  Provoost  on  the  9th  of 
May,  1799.  On  the  27th  of  August,  of  the  same  year,  the  Trinity 
Vestry  appointed  trustees,  to  whom  a  conveyance  was  made  of  the 
church  and  land,  in  trust  for  the  congregation,  when  organized. 
The  first  sale  of  pews  took  place  October  2d,  1799,  and  the  election 
of  a  vestry  was  on  the  18th  of  the  same  month.  The  revenues  of 
the  church  did  not  support  it,  and  financial  assistance  was  again 
asked  of  Trinity  Church.  This  corporation,  November  8th,  1800, 
deeded  thirty  lots  of  land  in  the  city  to  St.  Mark's  Church,  which 
produced  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year.  In  1804,  fifty- 
seven  pews  in  St.  Mark's  brought  a  total  yearly  rental  of  only 
$562.50,  and  in  1828,  sixty-eight  pews  rented  for  only  $943.  The 
number  of  communicants  in  1804  was  about  twenty.  A  steeple  to 
the  church  was  built  in  1826,  and  several  important  alterations  and 
repairs  took  place  from  1834  to  1836.  In  1803  Mr.  Peter  Stuy- 
vesant gave  lots  on  Eleventh  street  for  a  parsonage,  and  in  1804, 
ground  for  a  cemetery.  A  record,  bearing  date  of  July  20th,  1804, 
shows  that  pew  No.  9,  was  I'eserved  for  the  use  of  Mr.  Stuyvesant 
and  his  family  and  descendants  forever  free  of  charge  foi-  rent.  On 
the  outer  eastern  wall  of  the  edifice  is  a  tablet  bearing  the  follow- 
ing inscription :  "  In  this  vault  lies  buried  Peter  Stuyvesant,  late 
Captain-General  and  Commander  in  Chief  of  Amsterdam  in  New 
Netherlands,  now  called  New  York,  and  the  Dutch  West  India 
Islands.     Died  in  August,  A,  D.  1682,  aged  eighty  years." 

On  the  15th  of  February.  1800,  the  Rev.  John  Callahan  was 
called  to  the  rectorship,  and  accepted,  but  he  died  in  a  short  time 
trom  an  accident.  The  Rev.  William  Harris  was  called  December 
23d,  1801,  and   served   until  November  14th,   1816,  about  fifteen 

492 


REV.     JAMES    H.     RYLANCE,    D.  D. 

yeai's,  when  he  resigned,  bj  reason  of  the  duties  of  President  of 
Columbia  College,  to  which  he  had  been  previously  elected,  re- 
quiring all  of  bis  time.  On  December  3d,  1816,  the  Rev  William 
Creighton  was  called,  and  remained  the  rector  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  until  May  5th,  1836.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Anthon  was 
called  December  17th,  1836,  and  was  the  rector  until  his  death, 
many  years  later.  In  May,  1861,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  H.  Vinton 
became  the  rector,  and  remained  a  number  of  years.  For  an  inter- 
val there  was  no  regular  rector,  when,  in  1871,  the  Rev,  Dr,  Ry- 
lance accepted  a  call  to  the  parish.  The  church  is  still  pleasantly 
located,  and  attended  by  many  of  the  old  families, 

Dr,  Rylance  is  of  the  medium  height,  with  a  solid,  vigorous  frame, 
and  a  large,  intellectual  head.  On  first  acquaintance  he  is  some- 
what reserved,  but  this  soon  wears  away  into  a  most  genial  and  af- 
fable sociality.  He  is  of  a  cheerful,  frank,  out-spoken  nature,  when 
once  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  you,  and  association  with  him  be- 
comes characterized  by  that  superior  attractiveness  belonging  to 
culture  and  good  nature  combined.  A  man  of  deep  learning  and  a 
thoroughly  student  life,  he  is  also  one  of  most  practical  observa- 
tion. Consequently,  his  opinions  are  always  well-informed,  valuable, 
and  useful.  In  social  life  he  exerts  a  powerful  influence,  for  he  is 
a  ready  talker,  quick  and  keen  in  his  statements  and  arguments, 
and  so  interesting  and  agreeable  withal  that  he  instantly  obtains 
both  attention  and  esteem.  In  his  public  duties  he  is  equally  marked 
for  a  force  of  character  and  far-reaching  ability,  which  secure  to  him 
the  highest  results  in  all  his  labors. 

He  writes  with  great  scope  and  beauty  of  thought.  He  has  a 
fluent  and  easy  command  of  the  best  English,  and  he  is  singularly 
happy  in  unfolding  the  treasures  of  scholarly  research,  in  elaborating 
the  details  of  arguments  and  facts,  and  in  the  glowing  paintings  of 
his  fancy.  These  writings  are  always  attractive  reading,  and  when 
uttei'cd  by  him  as  sermons  or  lectures  have  the  added  charm  of  an 
expressive  and  eloquent  delivery, 

A  critical  examination  of  the  merits  of  Dr,  Rylance  as  a  preacher 
must  necessarily  place  them  beyond  all  dispute.  In  every  particu- 
lar he  is  found  capable  of  maintaining  the  reputation  of  the  pulpit, 
for  learning,  eloquence  and  piety  in  their  utmost  degree.  Showing 
a  propriety  in  all  things,  as  far  as  conduct  is  concerned,  and  having 
the  power  of  commanding  talents,  he  stands  at  once  one  of  the  shin- 
ing ornaments  and  earnest  workers  of  his  profession. 

493 


HEY.  WM.  T.  SABIM, 

RECTOR,    OF    THE    CHUKCPI    OF    THE    .^TOIVE- 
lytEIVT,     ]VEW     YORIt. 


EV.  WILLIAM  T.  SABINE  was  born  in  New  York, 
October  16th,  1838.  He  was  graduated  at  Columbia 
College  in  1859,  and  at  the  General  Episcopal  Theological 
Seminary  in  1862.  He  was  made  deacon  in  1862,  at  the 
'^®  Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  by  Bishop  Potter,  and  priest  in 
1^  1863,  at  tlie  Church  of  the  Ascension,  by  the  same  bisliop. 
He  was  first  settled  as  assistant  to  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  at  St.  George's 
Church,  where  he  remained  nine  months.  In  December,  1863,  he 
was  called  to  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  Philadelphia,  where  he 
remained  until  April,  1866,  when  he  returned  to  New  York,  to  un- 
dertake the  rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the  Atonement,  then  a  new 
parish. 

A  few  Episcopal  gentlemen  having  determined  that  another  church 
of  their  fast  growing  denomination  was  necessary  in  the  upper  portion 
of  the  city,  religious  services  were  commenced  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Home  of  the  Friendless,  in  Twenty-ninth  street.  Out  of  this  effort 
grew  the  Church  of  the  Atonement,  which  was  organized  in  No- 
vember, 1865,  having  ten  communicants.  Mr.  Sabine  was  called  to 
the  rectorship,  and  the  church  became  exceedingly  prosperous.  The 
church  property  on  the  corner  of  Madison  avenue  and  Twenty-eighth 
street,  about  to  be  vacated  by  Dr.  Osgood's  Unitarian  congregation, 
and  formerly  owned  by  Dr.  Montgomery's  Episcopal  congregation, 
was  purchased  by  the  Church  of  the  Atonement  for  seventy  thousand 
dollars,  and  duly  occupied  May  14th,  1867.  The  entire  indebtedness 
has  been  paid,  with  the  exception  of  about  seventeen  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  number  of  communicants  is  now  two  hundred,  and  tliC 
Sunday-school  has  one  hundred  and  twenty  children,  and  is  increasing. 
Mr.  Sabine  is  of  the  medium  height.  His  head  is  large  and  round 
in  the  upper  portion,  the  brow  being  full  and  overhanging.  His  eyes 
are  light  and  deep-set  in  their  sockets.     It  is  not  to  be  doubted  but 

494 


REV.     "WILLIAM     T.     SABINE. 

that  he  has  much  strength  of  mental  action,  moral  resolution,  and 
physical  energy.  As  a  student  at  college  and  the  seminary  he  was 
conspicuous  for  his  application  to  his  studios,  and  for  his  powerful, 
natural  qualities  of  mind.  In  the  lesser  public  duties  of  the  rector, 
such  as  reading  the  services,  etc.,  his  performance  is  entirely  satisfac- 
tory. As  a  preacher  he  is  equally  acceptable  in  point  of  matter. 
His  sermons  show  thought  and  originality,  and,  in  fact,  nothing  is 
more  clear  in  his  character  than  a  desire,  which  amounts  to  a  deter- 
mination, to  be  his  own  thinker.  Hence  he  takes  hold  of  his  subjects 
of  thought  in  a  mode  peculiarly  his  own ;  and  while  his  language  is 
terse  and  to  some  extent  brilliant,  his  reasoning  is  taken  from  newly 
conceived  standpoints,  and  is  full  of  force.  His  hearers  are  compelled 
to  treat  his  sermons  with  the  profound  respect  and  attention  which 
intellectual  thought  is  always  entitled  to  receive.  Mr.  Sabine  has 
gathered  a  large  and  attached  congregation.  His  deeply  religious 
and  conscientious  life  is  suggestive  to  all  who  observe  it,  while  its 
measure  of  success  in  not  less  noticeable. 

495 


HEY.  PHILIP  SCHAFF,  PH.  D.,  J).  D., 

FTIOFDESSOR   OF    THi:    TJ1VI03V  THEIOT^OGICAIL. 


EY.  DR.  PHILIP  SOHAFF  was  born  in  Chur,  in  the 
Canton  of  Grisons,  Switzerland,  January  1st,  1819.  He 
was  educated  at  the  Universities  of  Tiihingen,  Halle,  and 
Berlin,  at  the  Jast  of  which  he  was  graduated  a  doctor  of 
philosphy,  and  licentiate  of  divinity  in  1841.  After  this  a  con- 
siderable period  was  given  to  travel,  as  the  private  tutor  of  a 
Prussian  nobleman,  through  France,  Switzerland  and  Italy.  Return- 
ing to  Berlin  he  became  a  lecturer  on  theology. 

In  October,  1843,  the  synod  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  in 
session  at  Winchester,  Virginia,  invited  him  to  accept  a  professorship 
of  theolog}'  at  Mercersburg,  Pennsjdvania,  and  having  been  ordained 
at  Elbertfeld,  he  came  to  America  in  1844,  A  charge  of  heresy  was 
brought  against  him  before  the  synod  which  met  at  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, by  reason  of  certain  views  expressed  in  a  work  published  in 
Berlin,  previous  to  his  call  to  the  United  States,  and  also  in  his  in- 
augural at  Mercersburg,  but  he  was  honorably  acquitted.  He  re- 
mained in  this  professorship  for  a  number  of  years,  teaching  in  con- 
nection with  Dr.  Nevin  and  Dr.  Wolff.  In  1854,  he  went  to  Europe 
as  the  representative  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  of  America  in 
two  important  religious  assemblages  of  that  date,  and  at  Berlin  and 
other  places  accepted  invitations  to  lecture  on  America.  He  received 
the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  tlie  University  of  Berlin  in  the  same  year. 
At  length  he  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  has  found 
a  field  affording  him  the  widest  opportunities  for  his  scholarly  attain- 
ments and  pious  zeal.  In  1869,  he  accepted  his  present  professorship 
of  Apologetics  and  Symbolics  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary. 
He  made  several  visits  to  Europe  in  behalf  of  the  American  Branch 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  to  arrange  for  the  meeting  in  New  York, 
first  appointed  for  1870,  and  then  postponed,  on  account  of  the  French 

and  German  war,  to  1873.     The  Evangelical  Alliance,  consisting  of 

496 


EEV.     PHILIP     S  CHAFF,     PH.  D..     D.  D. 

Ohristians  of  different  nationalities  and  creeds,  was  founded  in  Lon- 
don, in  1846,  for  the  express  purpose  of  promoting  religious  liberty 
and  Christian  union  on  the  basis  of  that  libertj^  Vv'lien  it  was  de- 
termined to  memorialize  the  Emperor  of  Russia  on  the  subject  of  the 
religious  persecutions  in  that  Empire,  particularly  in  the  Baltic  prov- 
inces, a  Commission  of  influential  American  citizens  was  appointed 
to  join  with  similar  deputations  from  the  various  foreign  branches  of 
the  Alliance.  This  commission  consisted  of  fourteen  gentlemen,  of 
whom  Dr.  Schaff  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  active.  On  the 
assembling  and  organizing  of  the  delegations  at  Stuttgart,  Dr.  Schaflf 
was  elected  President,  and  at  the  interview  with  Prince  Gortschakoflf, 
the  Russian  Prime  Minister,  at  Friedrichshafen,  in  Germany,  July 
14:th,  1871,  he  presented  the  members  of  the  deputation  by  name, 
and  then  stated  on  their  behalf,  the  specific  object  of  their  mission. 
The  interview  lasted  over  an  hour  and  a  half,  during  which  several 
of  the  delegates  furtlier  advocated  the  subject,  and  the  Prince  entered 
fully  and  respectfully  into  the  discussion.  He  declined  to  receive 
the  European  memorial,  by  reason  of  some  objectionable  language 
in  it,  and  at  his  suggestion,  the  American  memorial  was  finally  with- 
drawn ;  but  the  Empenjr  has  since  acted  favorably  upon  some  of  the 
named  grievances. 

At  the  request  of  the  British  committee,  for  the  revision  of  the 
Authorized  English  Version  of  the  Scriptures,  through  the  Dean  of 
Westminister,  Dr.  Schaff  extended  an  invitation  to  American  schol- 
ars to  co-operate  with  them  in  the  work.  A  meeting  was  held  in  New 
York,  December  7th,  1871,  at  which  an  American  committee  of 
twenty-two  eminent  theological  scholars  was  appointed  to  aid  in  the 
revision,  who  are  thus  engaged.  Dr.  Schaff  is  at  the  head  of  the 
division  of  the  committee  in  charge  of  the  New  Testament  I'evision. 

Two  sections  of  the  constitution  adapted  by  the  meeting  provide 
as  follows : — 

"  The  British  companies  will  submit  to  the  American  companies, 
from  time  to  time,  such  portions  of  their  work  as  have  passed  the 
first  revision;  and  the  American  companies  will  transmit  their  criti- 
cisms and  suggestions  to  the  British  companies  before  the  second  re- 
vision. 

"A  joint  meeting  of  the  American  and  British  companies  shall 
be  held,  if  possible,  in  London,  before  final  action." 

Dr.  Scliaff  has  written,  translated,  and  edited  a  large  number  of 

497 


REV.      PHILIP     SCHAFF,     PH.D.,     D.  D. 

important  works.  He  has  published  in  German  "  The  Sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  (18  i4,  Halle);  "On  James  and  the  Brothers  of 
Jesus,"  (Geneva  and  Chambersburg,  Penn.,  1851) ;  "  History  of  the 
Apostolic  Church,"  (Mercersburg,  1851,  second  edition,  Leipsic,  1854, 
translated  into  English  by  the  Kev.  E.  D.  Youmans,  New  York  and 
Edinburgh,  1853  ;  translated  also  into  the  Dutch  and  French) ;  "  Ger- 
man Hymn  Book,  with  a  Historical  Introduction  and  Notes,"  (Phila- 
delphia and  Berlin,  1859).  His  works  in  English  are,  "  What  is 
Church  History,  A  Vindication  of  the  Idea  of  Historical  Develop- 
ment," (Philadelphia,  1846) ;  "  St.  Augustine ;  His  Life  and  Labors," 
(New  York,  1853,  German,  BerUn,  1 854) ;  "  America ;  its  Political, 
Social,  and  Religious  Character,"  (Lectures  delivered  by  request  in 
Berlin,  1850,  and  translated  into  English  in  1855) ;  "  Germany ;  its 
Universities  and  Divines,"  (Philadelphia,  1857);  "History  of  the 
Christian  Church  of  the  first  three  centuries,"  in  four  volumes,  (New 
York  and  Edinburgh,  1858)  ;  "  The  Moral  Character  of  Christ ;  or, 
the  Perfection  of  Christ's  Humanity,  a  proof  of  his  Divinit_y,"  (1860), 
and  a  Catechism  for  Sunday  Schools,"  (1861).  He  published  the 
Kirchenfeund,  a  theological  monthly  for  the  German  Churches  of 
America,  from  1848  to  1853,  and  was  co-edit  :)r  of  the  Mercersburg 
Review  for  several  years.  He  is  now  engaged  in  the  translation  and 
revision  of  the  great  work  entitled,  "A  commentary  on  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  Critical,  Devotional,  and  Homiletical,  by  John  Peter  Lange, 
D.  D.,  of  which  fifteen  volumes  have  been  published.  In  1873,  he 
edited  and  published  in  New  York,  "  The  Revision  of  the  English 
Version  of  the  New  Testament,"  as  discussed  by  the  Rev.  Doctors 
Lightfoot,  Ellicott,  and  French,  with  an  introduction  by  himself.  He 
has  also  contributed  largeh'  to  American  and  foreign  periodicals.  He 
preaches  occasionally,  but  most  of  his  appearances  as  a  speaker  re- 
late to  special  objects  of  public  interest.  At  all  such  times  he  is 
fluent,  learned,  and  interesting. 

Dr.  Schaff  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  ec[ual]y  proportioned. 
He  has  a  decidedly  intellectual  head,  with  a  countenance  usually 
composed  and  serious,  but  which  in  conversation  lights  up  with  ani- 
mation. His  manners  are  courteous,  and  he  is  affable  and  kindly 
with  all  persons.  He  ranks  with  the  ablest  theological  scholars,  teach- 
ers, and  writers  of  the  brilliant  period  in  which  he  lives.  A  man  of 
profound  erudition,  unwearying  application  to  study,  and  remarkable 
energy,  he  has,  also,  those  popular  personal  characteristics,  which 

readily  secure  extended  acquaintance  and  influence. 

498 


EEY.  NOAH  H.  SCHENCK,  D.  D., 

BIlOOItl^YIV 


EY.  DR.  NOAH  H.  SCHENCK  was  bom  in  Mercer 
county,  New  Jersey,  about  eight  miles  from  Trenton,  June 
30th,  1825.  He  was  graduated  at  Princeton  College  in 
1844,  and,  after  due  preparation,  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
@  of  New  Jersey.  He  practiced  at  Trenton  for  one  year,  when, 
«^  in  1848,  he  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  continued  his  profession 
for  three  years  longer.  Having  now  determined  u|X)n  a  clerical 
career,  he  commenced  a  theological  course  at  the  Episcopal  seminary 
of  Gambier,  Ohio,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1853.  In  the  same  year 
he  was  made  deacon  at  Grace  Church,  Brooklyn,  by  Bishop  Alcll- 
vaine,  of  Ohio,  and  priest  in  the  following  year,  by  the  same  bishop, 
at  St.  James'  Church,  Zanesville,  Ohio.  He  was  fii-st  settled  over  a 
parish  at  Hillsboro',  in  Ohio,  where  he  remained  from  1853  to  the 
spring  of  1856.  During  this  time  he  was  instrumental  in  the  erec- 
tion of  one  of  the  most  beautiful  Gothic  churches  to  be  found  in  the 
whole  State.  He  next  went  to  the  parish  connected  with  the  college 
at  Gambier,  where  he  labored  from  Easter,  1856,  to  August,  1857. 
A  great  revival  marked  his  ministry  in  this  period.  Seventy -four 
persons  united  with  the  church  at  one  time,  of  whom  forty-eight 
were  students  of  the  college.  In  1857  he  went  to  Trinity  Church, 
Chicago,  v/liere  he  officiated  until  1859.  He  established  and  edited 
the  Western  Churchman,  in  Chicago,  and  also  organized  the  Protes- 
tant Aid  Society  of  Illinois.  In  1859  he  became  the  successor  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Johns  at  Emanuel  Church,  Baltimore,  where  he  re- 
mained until  May  1st,  1867,  when  he  became  rector  of  his  present 
extensive  parish,  St  Ann's,  of  the  city  of  Brooklyn.  At  one 
period  Dr.  Schenck  owned  and  edited  the  Protestant  Churcli- 
man,  of  New  York.  A  volume  of  "Letters  from  Europe" 
will  probably  soon  appear.  He  has  published  a  large  num- 
ber of  occasional   sermons  and   addresses.      During  the  last  year 

499 


KEV.     NOAH     H.     SCHENCK,     D.  D 

his  sermons,  addresses,  and  speeches  have  averaged  one  for  eacli 
day.  He  received  his  degree  of  D,  D.  from  Princeton  College 
about  1865.  He  has  visited  Europe  several  times.  On  the  14th  of 
July,  1871,  he  was  present  as  one  of  the  deputation  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  appointed  to  memorialize  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  in  behalf  of  religious  liberty  in  that  empire,  at 
the  interview  with  Prince  Gortschakoff,  the  Prime  Minister,  held  at 
Friedrichshafen,  in  Germany. 

Episcopal  worship  was  held  in  Brooklyn  at  an  early  date.  Says 
an  acount:  "The  introduction  of  the  Episcopal  service  in  this  town 
was  nearly  co-equal  with  the  entrance  of  the  British  army.  Al- 
though it  has  been  conjectured  that  it  was  some  years  antecedent  to 
that  event,  there  is  no  evidence  of  this  fact.  Before  the  revolution 
the  settlement  was  very  small,  and  all  the  inhabitants,  it  is  believed, 
were  connected  with  the  Dutch  congregation,  which  then  constituted 
the  only  religious  society.  During  the  war,  as  it  was  natural  to  ex- 
pect, the  British  officers  had  divine  services  performed  according  to 
the  forms  of  their  own  church.  AVhere  they  usually  met  is  not 
known,  but,  with  a  truly  catholic  spirit,  the  Dutch  people  kindly  al- 
lowed them  the  use  of  their  church,  when  not  occupied  by  their  own 
ministers.     This  General  Johnson  recollects  as  a  fact" 

Rev.  James  Sayre  officiated  from  1778  to  about  the  time  of  the 
evacuation,  in  1783,  and  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  George  Wright. 
The  place  of  meeting  was  a  private  house  in  what  is  now  Fulton 
street  The  barn  of  John  Middagh,  in  the  rear  of  his  house,  which 
was  on  the  corner  of  Fulton  and  Henry  streets,  was  next  occupied, 
and  then  a  building  in  the  neighborhood,  erected  by  the  British  dur- 
ing the  war,  was  fitted  up  for  the  purpose.  In  1785  a  small  frame 
house,  which  had  been  erected  on  what  was  subsequently  the  Epis- 
copal burial  ground,  on  Fulton  street,  opposite  Clark  street,  became 
the  place  of  worship,  and  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Provost  in 
1787.  The  societ}'-  was  incorporated  April  28d,  1787,  as  the  "Epis- 
copal Church  of  Brooklyn,"  and  on  a  reorganization,  June  22d,  1795, 
was  incorporated  as  "St  Ann's  Church,"  a  name  long  given  it  in 
compliment  to  Mrs.  Ann  Sands,  who  with  her  husband,  Joshua 
Sands,  presented  a  valuable  site  for  a  church  edifice.  A  new  stone 
church  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Sands  and  Washington  streets, 
and  consecrated  May  30th,  1805.  The  walls  of  this  building  were 
seriousl}^  damaged  by  the  explosion  of  a  powder  mill  in  the  vicinity, 

and  the  edifice  at  present  on  this  site  was  erected  in  1824.     Rev. 

500 


KEV.      NOAH     11.     SCHENCK,     D.  D. 

Elijah  D.  Rettoone  was  the  rector  from  1789  to  1792  ;  Rev.  Samuel 
Nesbitt  from  1793  to  1798;  Rev.  John  Ireland  from  1798  to  1807; 
Rev.  Dr.  Feltus  from  1807  to  18U;  Rev.  Dr.  John  T.  K.  Hensbaw, 
afterward  Bishop  of  Rhode  Island,  from  1814  to  1817 ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Hugh  Smith  from  1817  to  18  L9;  Rev.  Dr.  Henrj  W.  Onderdonk, 
afterward  Bishop  of  Pennsvlvania,  from  1819  to  1827  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Chas. 
T.  Mcllvaine,  afterward  Bishop  of  Ohio,  from  1827  to  1833;  Rev. 
Dr.  Benjamin  C.  Cutler  from  1833  to  1863 ;  Rev.  Laurence  H.  Mills 
from  1864  to  1867,  when  the  Rev.  Dr.  Schenck  became  the  incum- 
bent. It  will  thus  be  seen  that  some  of  the  most  eminent  men  in 
the  EjDiscopal  church  have  held  the  rectorship  of  this  ancient  church. 
It  is  largely  endowed,  owning  valuable  property  in  both  Brooklyn 
and  New  York.  A  fine  row  of  stores  occupy  the  old  burial  groinid, 
fi'om  which  the  dead  were  removed  a  few  years  since. 

By  reason  of  the  growth  of  the  city  and  the  I'emoval  of  many 
of  the  congregation  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  early  church,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  provide  for  a  building  in  some  other  section 
Accordingly  very  eligible  lots  wei'c  j3urchased  on  the  corner  ot 
Clinton  and  Livingston  streets,  where  a  magnificent  church  and  chapel 
have  been  erected.  The  chapel  was  first  completed  and  at  once 
occupied.  The  corner-stone  of  the  main  edifice  was  laid  May  8th, 
1867,  and  the  completed  structure  was  opened  for  public  worship, 
with  imposing  services,  October  20th,  1869.  The  entire  cost  of  the 
chapel,  church,  and  organ  was  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousancf 
dollars.  Both  the  exterioi"  and  interior  of  this  imposing  church 
edifice  have  strongly  marked  characteristics,  and  command  attention 
by  novel  and  unique  architectural  features.  The  exterior  is  a  com- 
bination of  Belleville  brown  stone  and  white  stone  from  the  Ohio 
quarries.  The  architecture  is  that  known  as  decorated  or  middle 
pointed.  The  result  of  the  use  of  the  two  kinds  of  stone  in  the 
manner  it  is  employed,  is  to  bring  out  strongly  the  contrast  of  the 
red  and  white.  The  uncommon  height  of  the  building,  Avhich  is  one 
hundred  feet  from  the  floor  to  the  pitch  of  the  roof,  contributes 
largely  to  the  effect  both  without  and  within.  Towers  rise  above 
the  ridge  and  cresting  of  the  roof  to  the  height  of  thirty-six  feet. 
The  caps  of  the  columns  of  the  central  entrance  doors  are  richly 
carved  in  leaves  and  grapes,  mingled  with  ears  of  wheat,  expressive 
and  suggestive  of  the  elements  of  the  sacrament.  The  traceries  of 
the  windows  are  all  of  stone,  and  of  an  elaborate  nature.     The  lines 

and  figures  are  geometrical,  and  have  a  strong  and  beautiful  expres- 

501 


REV.     NOAH     H.      SCHENCK,     D.  D. 

sion,  combining  ideas  typical  and  illustrative  of  different  Christian 
principles,  such  as  the  interlacing  of  the  triangle  and  trefoil,  sug- 
gestive of  the  indivisibility  and  equality  of  the  Godhead.  The 
body  of  the  edifice  has  five  parallel  aisles.  The  chancel  is  a  most 
striking  feature,  being  very  rich  and  elabonite,  -md  having  a  different 
arrangement  from  most  Episcopal  churches.  The  galleries  are  broad 
and  spacious.  The  beautiful  windows  of  stained  glass  have  texts 
from  Holy  Writ,  such  as  "I  am  the  bread  of  life,"  "I  am  the  light 
of  the  world,"  etc.  The  walls,  ceiling,  and  arches  are  painted  in 
different  colors  with  much  artistic  tasta  On  the  right  side  of  the 
chancel  are  the  robing,  vestry,  Bible  class,  infxnts'  and  music  rooms, 
and  rector's  study.  The  basement  is  devoted  to  the  Sunday  school, 
and  is  a  spacious  and  convenient  apartment.  The  church  is  lighted 
in  an  ingenious  manner  by  jets  around  the  caps  of  the  nave  columns, 
and  the  heating  and  ventilation  are  all  accomplished  by  the  most 
approved  plans.  In  architectural  finish,  in  richness  of  ornamenta- 
tion, and  in  general  completeness  and  convenience,  this  structure  has 
no  superior  in  the  United  States. 

The  old  church,  on  Washington  street,  is  still  maintained,  with  a 
clergyman  in  charge.  There  are  between  five  and  six  hundred  com- 
municants attending  the  two  churches,  and  about  eight  hundred 
children  in  the  Sunday  schools. 

Dr.  Schenck  is  a  person  of  large  physical  proportions  and  most 
impressive  presence.  He  is  tall,  round,  and  erect  Equally  propor- 
tioned, he  is  easy  and  graceful  in  all  his  movements.  His  head  is 
made  to  match  this  commanding  and  finely  proportioned  stature. 
It  is  large  and  noble  in  its  every  aspect,  and  rests  well  poised,  with 
its  evident  wealth  of  mental  power,  as  the  crown  of  perfection  to 
the  whole  physical  man.  The  features  are  regular  and  highly  intel- 
lectual. His  eyes  are  soft,  but  have  a  direct  and  observing  glance. 
The  wiiole  expression  of  his  face  is  amiable  in  the  extreme,  but  it  is 
an  amiability  that  has  mingled  with  it  none  of  the  elements  of  a 
mere  passive  weak  character.  On  the  contrary,  'Dr.  Schenck  is 
decided  and  forcible,  and  has  great  individuality  in  all  his  proceed- 
ings. His  is  a  nature  gentle,  fm-bearing,  and  good,  and  yet  one  of 
ever-present  firmness  and  dignity  in  action.  All  the  high-toned 
qualities  and  finished  graces  of  the  born  and  educated  gentleman 
appear  in  his  intercourse  with  all  classes.  He  is  entirely  approach- 
able, as  his  manners  and  address  are  most  courteous  and  bland,  but 
still  he  has  a  natural  dignity  that  greatly  impresses  you.     In  the  dif 

60:i 


REV.     NOAH     H.     SCHENCK,     D.  D. 

fercnt  circles  of  society,  whether  it  be  the  unrestrained  and  genial,  or 
the  learned  and  sedate,  he  is  equally  admired.  Cheerful  and  fascin- 
ating in  the  one,  he  is  instructive  and  circumspect  in  the  other. 
Frank,  generous,  and  lofty-minded  in  all  his  impulses,  he  is  a  man 
who  quickens  the  heart  with  its  most  sincere  attachments,  and  inspires 
the  mind  to  its  most  virtuous  aspirations. 

He  is  a  preacher  of  eloquence  and  power.  As  soon  as  you  look 
at  him  in  the  pulpit  you  become  convinced  of  his  ability.  His 
massive  head,  and  his  face  beaming  in  every  line  with  intellectuality, 
tell  the  eye  of  the  observer  that  here  is  a  man  of  force,  of  will,  and 
brain.  When  he  speaks,  this  opinion  is  fully  confirmed.  His  voice 
is  firm,  full,  and  smooth.  His  language  is  choice,  terse,  and  elo- 
quent. He  is  ai'gumentative,  but  has  passages  of  fine  imagerv 
throughout  All  that  he  says  shows  the  thoughtful  and  scholarly 
man — one  full  of  love  for  his  fellow-creatures — one  whose  eveiy 
impulse  and  hope  is  allied  to  virtue  and  religion — and  one  who, 
while  he  feels  the  holy  comfort  of  an  abiding  faith,  is  fully  alive  to 
the  responsibilities  of  his  pastoral  office.  All  his  talents,  all  his 
zeal,  and  all  his  nerve  are  devoted  to  his  work.  He  begrudges 
nothing,  but  rather  concentrates  and  intensifies  everything  to  secure 
the  more  fruitful  success.  In  his  sermons,  filling  the  measure  of 
oratory  and  scholarship,  he  is  in  no  wise  lacking  in  religious  fervor 
and  solemnity. 

Dr.  Schenck  is  one  of  the  strong  men  of  the  day.  He  moves 
in  the  path  of  duty  and  labor  with  no  uncertainty  of  purpose  or 
hesitation  of  action.  Endowed  with  natural  talents  of  a  high  order, 
his  learning  has  attained  to  the  most  profound  scholarship.  A 
theologian,  but  also  a  practical  and  wide  observer  in  regard  to  every 
department  of  human  interest,  he  is  thoroughly  informed  for  the 
work  of  a  leader  and  teacher  among  men.  His  efforts,  not  less  than 
his  talents,  are  worthy  of  the  intelligent  age  in  which  he  lives.  A 
servant  of  the  church,  he  is  at  the  same  time  its  hero.  Humble  and 
obedient  in  doing  the  will  of  the  Master,  he  is  a  bold  aggressive 
champion  of  the  faith.  Beautiful  in  character,  and  pure  in  life,  he 
is  unwearying  in  professional  energy,  and  devout  and  self-sacrificing 
in  all  his  duties. 

503 


REY.  WILLIAM  A.  SCOTT,  D.D,  LL.  D., 

iLiA-Te:  PA-f^sTOK,  OF  the:  fokty-secoivd  stkeet 

I»KE&^I3YTEi:iIAP«^    CHURCH,    jVEAV    YOUIt. 


EV.  DR.  WILLIAM  A.  SCOTT  was  bora   near   Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  January  30th,  1813.     He  was  graduated 
at  Cumberland   University   in  1833,  and  in  theology  at 
_^  Princeton  Seminary  in  1834.     Before  going  to  Cumberland 

"^  College  in  1829,  he  was  licensed  at  Cumberland  University  ;  in 
1829  he  was  licensed  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  by  the  Presby- 
tery of  Hopewell,  West  Tennessee,  and  for  the  period  of  one  year  was 
a  missionary  in  the  then  wilds  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  He 
traveled  on  horseback  among  tlie  Indian  tribes  and  white  settlements, 
pioneering  out  his  own  roads,  lying  out  at  night,  and  preaching  in  tlie 
cabins,  forest,  or  anywhere  that  hearers  could  be  obtained.  On  one 
occasion  he  bad  an  appointment  at  a  log  building,  but  a  storm  kept 
away  all  save  one  man,  to  whom  the  sermon  was  preached,  as  a  large 
fire  crackled  on  the  dirt  floor  in  the  centre  of  the  apartment.  He 
served  as  a  volunteer  chaplain  during  the  Black  Hawk  war,  passing 
most  of  the  time  at  Fort  Crawford,  Prairie  du  Chien.  At  the  close 
of  the  Black  Hawk  war  he  descended  the  Mississippi  river,  whose 
banks  were  then  without  white  inhabitants,  to  Keokuk  in  a  small 
canoe  with  no  other  campanion  than  a  small  half-breed  Sioux  boy  ; 
and  returning  to  the  University  be  recommenced  his  studies,  and  was 
enabled  to  graduate  witb  his  class  in  1833.  In  1834,  leaving  Prince- 
ton Seminary,  he  entered  the  Presbytery  of  Louisiana  and  labored  as 
a  missionary  in  that  State,  being  ordained  in  1835,  at  Alexandria,  on 
Hed  River.  Ilis  health  failing  him,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church,  at  Winchester,  Tennessee,  where  he 
remained  from  1836  until  1838.  In  the  latter  year  he  became  Presi- 
dent of  the  JSTashville  Female  Academy,  and  also  preached  at  the 
Hermitage  Church,  on  the  estate  of  General  Andrew  Jackson.  It 
may  be  stated  that  Dr.  Scott's  relations  with  the  immortal  Jackson 

were  of  the  most  intimate  character,  and  he  possesses  many  autograph 

504 


REV.     WILLIAM     A.      SCOTT,     D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

letters  and  souvenirs  of  the  departed  statesman.  A  copy  of  an  en- 
graving, thought  by  Gen.  Jackson  to  be  the  best  extant  of  himself, 
bears  on  the  back,  in  bokl  penmanship,  this  inscription :  "  Gen.  A. 
Jackson,  with  his  kind  regards,  presents  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Scott,  the  enclosed  picture  of  himself,  as  a  memento  of  his  personal 
esteem  and  kind  recollection  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Scott  Hermitage, 
November  29th,  1841.  Andrew  Jackson."  In  1839,  Dr.  Scott 
became  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama, 
where  he  remained  eighteen  months,  going  in  1841  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church  on  Lafayette  square.  New  Orleans.  Later,  his  health 
failed  him,  and  he  went  twice  to  Europe,  and  also  visited  California. 
The  climate  of  the  Pacific  restored  him,  and,  returning,  he  resigned 
his  charge  in  New  Orleans,  in  1854,  and,  removing  to  San  Francisco, 
organized  the  Calvary  Presbyterian  congregation,  over  which  he  re- 
mained until  1861.  It  was  mainly  through  Dr.  Scott's  exertions  that 
University  College,  San  Francisco,  was  established  in  1859.  He  deliv- 
ered a  powerful  sermon,  entitled  "A  Discourse  for  the  Times,"  in  1856, 
during  the  reign  of  terror  under  the  Vigilance  Committee,  taking 
ground  against  its  proceedings.  In  1858,  he  was  Moderator  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Resigning  his 
charge  in  San  Francisco,  he  a  third  time  took  his  departure  for 
Europe,  and  remained  abroad  two  years,  a  portion  of  the  time  min- 
istering in  New  John  street  Presbyterian  Church,  Birmingham.  He 
published  in  London  one  of  the  first  replies  addressed  to  Bishop 
Colenso,  entitled    "Moses  and  the  Pentateuch." 

Reaching  New  York  in  the  Summer  of  1863,  Dr.  Scott  accepted 
the  pastorship  of  the  Forty-second  street  Presbyterian  Church. 
Dr.  Scott  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  the  University  of 
Alabama  in  1840,  and  that  of  D.  D.  from  the  same  institution 
in  1844.  While  abroad  in  1850-51,  he  made  the  tour  of 
the  Holy  Land.  For  three  years  he  was  editor  of  the  New  Orleans 
Presbyterian,  and  he  founded  the  Piicific  Expositor,  a  religious 
magazine.  He  is  also  the  author  of  "  Daniel,  a  Model  for  Young 
Men,"  published  in  1854 ;  "  Wedge  of  Gold,"  1856-58 ;  "  Trade  and 
Letters — their  Journeys  Round  the  World,"  1856;  "  Giant  Judge,  or 
the  Story  of  Samson,"  1859-60  ;  "  Esther,  the  Hebrew  Queen,"  1859  ; 
'*  The  Church  in  the  Army,"  1862  ;  besides  various  sermons,  &c.  A 
sermon  entitled  "  Bible  and  Politics,"  being  a  plea  for  religious  free- 
dom in  the  public  schools,  made  a  great  sensation.  More  recently  he 
published  his  most  important  work,    "  The  Christ  of  the  Apostles' 

505 


REV.      WILLIAM     A.     SCOTT,     D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Creed :  the  voice  of  the  Church  against  Arianism,  Strauss  and  Eenan." 
"With  an  appendix,  hj  Eev.  W.  A.  Scott,  D.  D. 

We  take  the  following  selection  from  a  sermon  entitled  "Faith, 
the  Element  of  Missions,"  preached  before  a  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church : 

' '  There  is  no  faculty  of  the  mind,  no  noble  and  pure  affection  of  the  heart,  no 
proper  action  of  social  relation  of  man,  that  true  religion  does  not  recognize  and 
bless.  A  belief  in  God  is  itself  the  sublimest  conception  the  human  min  1  can  en- 
tertain. An  intelligent,  earnest  apprehension  of  God  as  our  Heavenly  Father  does 
more  than  anything  else  to  expand,  strengthen,  elevate  and  refine  the  human  intellect. 
As  mind  is  truly  the  offspring  of  God,  ike  entrance  of  his  word  glveth  light.  Other  things 
being  equal,  the  pious  are  possessed  of  more  strength  of  intellect,  of  greater  sources 
of  enjoyment,  and  of  infinitely  greater  expectations  in  the  world  to  come.  It  is  in 
those  countries  and  amongst  those  races  and  generations  that  have  been  most  com- 
pletely under  the  influence  of  the  Word  of  God  that  we  find  the  highest  development 
of  intellect,  virtue,  and  patriotism.  It  is  in  their  history  that  we  see  the  greatest 
breadth  and  solidity  of  character,  the  sublimest  conceptions  of  the  invisible  world, 
and  the  iDurest  forms  of  government.  It  is  with  them  that  we  find  the  poetry  of 
ac  ion  and  the  loftiness  of  genius.  There  was  poetry  loftier  than  the  strains  of  Mil- 
ton in  the  faith  and  heroism  and  moral  sublimity  of  the  Mayflower's  cabin,  when,  as 
has  been  beautifully  said,  she  hovered  near  the  rocky  shore, '  like  a  woiinded  sea-fowl, 
seeking  some  place  to  die.'  Three  thousand  miles  of  waves  stretched  behind  them 
and  between  them  and  civilization.  Their  sails  streamed  in  shreds  through  the  win- 
ter's blasts,  and  before  them  lay  an  unknown,  frowning,  snow-clad  coast,  where  the 
howling  of  the  wild  beast  mingled  with  the  wilder  war-cry  of  the  savage :  and  yet  we 
hear  of  no  regret  shaking  the  high  resolve  of  a  single  heart,  nor  of  a  tear  dimming 
the  lustre  of  a  woman's  eye.  As  they  had  lived  by  faith  as  pilgrims  and  strangers  in 
the  old  world,  of  whom  it  was  not  worthy,  so  by  faith  they  had  crossed  the  stormy 
ocean;  and  now  by  faith  they  framed  laws  and  made  a  constitution  for  a  new  empire, 
and  then  by  faith  debarked,  and  in  faith  poured  out  their  hearts  in  psalms  of  gratitude, 
and  build  a  house  for  God  and  a  house  for  the  instruction  of  their  children ;  and  so 
do  their  descendants  to  this  day,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  When  our  pious 
fathers  landed  on  the  shores  of  the  new  world,  they  sowed  a  handful  of  seed-corn  of 
the  most  precious  kind  on  the  broad  fields  of  this  vast  continent,  and,  it  being  in- 
creased by  fresh  winno wings  from  Ireland,  Scotland,  Germany,  and  France,  has 
multiplied  itself  a  thousand  fold,  and  the  fruit  thereof  is  now  shaking  as  Lebanon  over 
the  globe.  Was  there  nothing  but  witchcraft,  blue  laws,  nasal  chanting,  and  psalm- 
singing  among  the  first  settlers  of  America  ?  Was  there  no  poetry,  no  faith,  no 
heroism,  no  missionary  spirit,  in  the  high-souled,  Heaven-trusting,  Jesus-loving  bands 
that  sought  the  wilderness  for  freedom  to  worship  God  ?  A  careful  study  of  the  history 
of  a  large  majority  of  the  emigrants  who  first  settled  America  shows  that  their  prin- 
ciples and  character  were  formed  by  reading  and  studying  the  Bible.  Their  faith 
seized  on  things  to  come,  and  brought  them  in  daily  communion  with  the  living 
truths  and  unseen  beings  of  a  spiritual  world.  To  them  the  Word  of  God  was  every- 
thing. To  them  the  famous  motto  of  Chillingworth  had  a  real  meaning  and  applica- 
tion— '  The  Bible  is  the  religion  of  Protestants.'  " 

In  1870,  Dr.  Scott  accepted  an  earnest  invitation  to  return  to  San 

Francisco,  where  he  was  warmly  welcomed,  and  soon  succeeded  in 

establishing,  St  John's  Presbyterian  Church.     This  is  now  a  large 

506 


REV.     WILLIAM     A,     SCOTT,     D.  D,,  LL.  D. 

and  flourishing  congregation  of  which  he  is  the  pastor.  Dr.  Scott 
is  also  Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  in  the  San  Francisco  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  an  institution  recently  established. 

The  University  of  New  York  conferred  upon  Dr.  Scott  the 
honorary  degree  of  LL.  D.  in  1872. 

Dr.  Scott  is  tall,  with  a  large,  broad  frame,  and  high,  rather  round 
shoulders.  His  head  is  of  good  size,  and,  while  it  has  no  peculiarly 
striking  marks  in  its  formation,  is  well  developed  in  the  intellectual 
portions.  The  eyes  are  small  and  calm,  but  full  of  intelligence,  and 
the  whole  expression  of  the  countenance  is  that  of  a  kind-hearted,  re- 
flective, and  far-seeing  man.  His  manners  are  courteous  and  genial 
in  the  extreme.  He  interests  you  at  once  as  a  man  of  far  more  than 
the  ordinary  ability.  Laying  aside  everything  like  reserve,  he  readily 
and  delightfully  falls  into  animated  conversation.  His  conversational 
powers  are  the  amplest  He  exhibits  a  fund  of  the  widest  learning 
and  the  richest  thought  upon  deeper  subjects,  and  not  less  spirit  and 
intelligence  in  regard  to  those  of  a  more  common  character.  His  life 
has  been  one  of  a  varied  experience,  the  largest  acquaintance  with 
his  fellows,  and  a  clear-sighted  observation.  A  missionary  in  the 
wilds  of  America,  a  tourist  in  refined  Europe,  a  pilgrim  in  the  Holy 
Land,  a  preacher  in  the  great  cities,  his  field  of  view  has  been  the 
most  extensive ;  and  to  experience  he  has  added  a  treasure  of  lore 
gained  in  a  lifetime  of  profound  mental  application.  Fame  and  hon- 
ors have  never  lifted  him  away  from  sympathy  and  communion  with 
the  humblest  who  might  cross  his  path,  and  exalted  learning  has  not 
made  him  less  the  genial  companion  of  those  without  a  like  possession. 
Hence  there  is  a  plainness,  simplicity  and  frankness  in  his  deportment 
and  speech  which  make  him  companionable  for  all  men,  and  at  the 
same  time,  when  the  occasion  requires  it,  he  rises  to  the  grandest 
height  of  brilliant  and  dignified  scholarship. 

Dr.  Scott  is  an  excellent  writer  and  an  agreeable  speaker. 
If  one  thing  more  than  another  is  apparent,  it  is  that  he  has 
full  mastery  of  his  subject.  A  giant  strength  for  debate  is  self- 
evident,  a  commanding  self-possession  appears  throughout,  and 
neither  learning  nor  personal  sincerity  is  ever  lacking.  His 
arguments  stand  forth  impregnable  bulwarks  of  logic,  while  every 
step  in  them  is  illustrated  by  the  heart's  pious  and  sympathetic  over- 
flowings. Of  an  independent,  courageous  nature,  his  assaults  upon 
error  are  bold  and  uncompromising ;  but  to  the  suffering  spirit  he 
uses  a  tenderness  of  expression  in  which  his  religion  and  his  emotions 
have  an  equal  part.  507 


REV.  HENRY  MARTIN  SCUDDER,  D.  D., 

PA.STOK    OF     TH3E3    CEJ^fTRA-TL.     C;or»fGIlEGA^TIO]VA.3Li 
CHURCH,    BTtOOIiLYiV. 


EV.  DR  HENRY  MARTYN  SCUDDER  was  born  in 
Panditerripoo,  in  the  Island  of  Ceylon,  lying  off  the 
Southern  coast  of  Hindoostan,  in  the  year  1822.  His 
father  was  a  missionary.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
when  ten  years  old.  In  1840,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  was 
graduated  at  the  New  York  University,  and  in  1843  at  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  He  was  ordained  as  an 
evangelist  of  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  sailed  as  a 
missionary  for  India  in  May,  1844.  For  twenty  years  he  pursued 
the  self-sacrificing  labors  of  a  missionary  in  India,  and  finally  re- 
turned on  account  of  ill  health  to  the  United  States. 

After  a  settlement  of  a  few  months  over  a  church  in  Jersey  City, 
N.  J.,  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Howard  Presbyterian 
Church  in  San  Francisco,  California.  He  went  to  the  Pacific  coast 
in  1865,  where  he  soon  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  by  his 
eloquent  preaching.  Six  years  later,  in  1871,  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Central  Congregational  Church  of  Brooklyn,  to  succeed  the  Rev. 
J.  Clement  French,  who  had  resigned  by  reason  of  impaired  health. 

The  fii'st  church  edifice  of  this  congregation,  in  Ormond  Place, 
was  built  in  1853,  at  a  cost  of  $27,000,  by  R.  L.  Crook,  Esq.,  in  the 
tnen  suburbs  of  the  city,  doubtless  "  to  enhance  the  value  of  the 
owner's  large  real  estate  interest  in  the  vicinity,"  having  "also  a  well 
considered  regard  for  its  moral  and  social  influence  upon  the  com- 
munity of  which  it  was  by-and-by  to  become  the  center."  The 
Congregationalists  were  the  first  to  occupy  the  building  as  a  society, 
having  organized  in  1854,  under  Rev.  Mr.  Parker,  who  was  succeed- 
ed by  Mr.  French.  In  1863  extensive  improvements  were  made  in 
the  building,  at  an  expenditure  of  three  thousand  dollars.  A  new 
organ  cost  two  thousand  dollars  additional.  At  that  date  the  con- 
gregation had  increased  from  scarcely  a  dozen  to  one  hundred  and 

508 


REV.   HENRY  MARTYN  SC  UDDER,  D.  D. 

seventy-five  families,  and  it  continued  thus  to  prosper  and  increase 
tln-oughout  the  ministry  of  Mr.  French.  Soon  after  Dr.  Scudder 
came,  the  imposing  structure  now  occupied  was  erected.  It  cost  a 
large  sum  of  money,  and  contains  one  of  the  most  capacious  and 
finest  audience  rooms  in  the  country. 

Dr.  Scudder  received  the  degree  of  M,  D.  from  the  New  York 
University,  and  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Rutgers  College,  New 
Brunswick.  In  all  his  pastoral  positions,  as  well  as  in  active  rela- 
tions to  the  leading  religious  movements  and  enterprises  of  the  dav, 
he  has  been  an  efficient  and  conscientious  worker,  and  he  conse- 
quently exerts  an  influence  which  goes  far  beyond  his  own  church 
and  denomination.  He  often  appears  on  the  platform  as  a  speaker, 
at  anniversaries  and  other  meetings  of  the  city  organizations  engag- 
ed in  different  works  of  evangelization  and  reform,  where  he  is 
listened  to  with  great  interest  and  profit. 

He  is  a  man  of  the  most  sincere  convictions  of  piety  and  duty. 
All  the  associations  and  impulses  of  his  life  have  been  of  a  nature 
to  lead  him  to  a  deep  spirituality  of  thought  and  conduct.  He  is 
absorbed  in  his  mission  to  men,  and  in  the  faitliful  performance  of 
all  its  obligations  is  his  highest  ambition  and  his  eternal  hopes. 
Hence  in  the  daily  demands  of  pastoral  duty,  and  in  the  preaching  of 
God's  word,  he  is  solely  intent  upon  accomplishing  the  greatest  good 
to  his  fellow-creatures  by  the  untiring  application  of  his  talents  and 
energies  to  the  purpose  in  view.  In  the  first  case,  it  is  not  personal 
convenience,  nor  in  the  second,  is  it  desire  for  personal  fame  which 
control  him,  but  in  both  it  is  the  yearning  and  the  resolution  to  dif- 
fuse the  comforts  of  religion  auK^ng  a  sinful  and  immortal  raca 

Dr.  Scudder's  sermons  are  productions  of  far  more  than  ordinary 
power.  Learning,  piety,  and  zeal  are  all  aglow  in  them.  With  a 
force  and  emphasis  of  action  peculiar  to  the  man,  and  with  a  clear- 
ness and  beauty  of  language  which  arc  invariable  to  his  thought  and 
utterance,  he  makes  all  occasions  and  all  themes  of  memorable  inter- 
est He  is  fluent  and  impassioned.  His  command  of  language  and 
grasp  of  his  subject  are  both  complete.  Sometimes  his  words  are 
quite  ornate,  though  always  powerful.  Impressive  in  his  appearance 
and  a  natural  as  well  as  a  cultivated  orator,  he  is  well  calculated  to 
teach  and  move  the  masses.  Arresting  the  public  attention  alike  by 
his  pleasing  gifts  of  eloquence  and  erudition,  he  is  one  who  makes 
full  use  of  this  circumstance  for  the  advancement  of  religion. 

509 


REY.  WILLIAM  J.  SEABURY, 

RECTOR    OF    THE    C'MXJRCIi    OF    THE:   AJSISTJISCIA.- 
TIOTV,  NETV  YORIC. 


^%^ 


EY.  WILLIAM  J.  SEABUEY,  son  of  the  late  Eev.  Dr. 
Samuel  Seabuiy,  was  born  in  the  citj  of  New  York, 
January  25th,  1837.  He  was  graduated  at  Columbia 
College  in  1856.  He  then  studied  law  in  the  office  of 
Stephen  P.  Nash,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1858,  and 
remained  in  practice  for  several  _years.  In  the  autumn  of 
1864,  he  entered  the  General  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary,  and 
was  graduated  in  the  middle  c^ass  in  1866.  He  was  ordained  dea- 
con in  June,  1866,  at  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  by  Bishop 
Potter,  and  priest  on  the  feast  of  St.  Andrew,  November  30th,  1867, 
at  the  same  church  and  by  the  same  prelate.  Immediately  on  his 
first  ordination  he  became  the  assistant  of  his  father,  who  had  been 
the  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation  since  its  organization  • 
in  1838.  In  1868  Dr.  Seabury  resigned  the  rectorship,  when  the 
Eev.  William  J.  Seabury  was  at  once  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

As  Dr.  Seabury  was  the  rector  of  this  parish  for  thirty  years,  and 
greatly  distinguished  himself  as  a  preacher,  professor,  and  writer,  a 
notice  of  him  is  not  in-ippropriate  in  this  place : 

Eev.  Dr.  Samuel  Seabury  was  born  at  New  London,  Conn.,  June 
9th,  1801.  He  was  "the  son  of  Eev.  Charles  Seabury,  who  was  the 
son  of  Eev.  Samuel  Seabury,  Bishop  of  Connecticut  and  Ehode 
Island,  who  was  also  the  son  of  a  clergyman.  The  subject  of  our 
notice  attended  school  at  his  native  place  during  his  residence  there, 
but  when  about  thirteen  years  of  age  his  father  removed  to  Setau- 
ket,  Long  Island.  Here  there  was  not  much  opportunit}^  for  school- 
ing, and  his  father's  salary  as  a  country  clergyman,  was  not  sufficient 
to  give  him  the  advantage  of  other  schools,  or  the  privilege  of  a  col- 
lege education.  When  about  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
came  to  New  York  to  gain  a  living  for  himself,  but  found  time   to 

pursue  studies  of  his  own.     After  a  time  he  gave  up  the  business 

510 


EEV.     WILLIAM     J.     SEABURY. 

pursuits  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  opened  a  school.  Having 
prepared  himself  for  the  Episcopal  ministry,  he  was  ordained  deacon. 
and  afterward  priest,  by  Bishop  Hobart,  about  1826-27.  After  ordi- 
nation, he  spent  some  time  in  preaching  at  Jamaica  and  Setauket, 
and  then  took  charge  of  the  parish  of  Huntington,  where  his  father 
and  great-grandfather  had  been  settled,  and  where  his  grandfather 
had  also  officiated.  About  a  year  later  he  was  called  to  a  parish  in 
Astoria,  or  Hallet's  Cove,  as  it  was  then  called,  on  Long  Island. 
While  in  charge  of  this  parish  he  formed  a  connection  with  Eev.  Dr. 
William  A.  Muhlenberg  to  act  as  one  of  the  professors  of  St.  Paul's 
College,  which  was  then  being  established  at  Flushing,  Long  Island. 
He  continued  in  this  position  until  about  1834-35.  About  the  year 
1832  he  was  invited  to  take  the  editorship  of  The  Churchman^ 
then  vacant  by  the  resignation  and  absence  in  Europe  of  Eev.  Dr. 
Whittingham,  now  Bishop  of  Maryland,  and  he  discharged  the  duties 
of  the  position  until  1850-51.  After  leaving  Astoria  he  ofiiciated 
temporarily  at  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  and  St.  Luke's  Church, 
in  New  York,  but  had  no  permanent  connection  with  any  parish 
until  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation  was  organized  in  1838. 

The  iirst  services  of  this  parish  were  held  in  the  building  on  the 
corner  of  Prince  and  Thompson  streets,  now  St.  Ambrose's  Church. 
In  August,  1847,  the  present  spacious  stone  church  edifice  in  Four- 
teenth street,  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  avenues  was  occupied. 
Dr.  Seabury  was  the  first  rector.  In  the  winter  of  1861-62,  he  began 
to  perform  the  duties  of  the  professorship  of  Biblical  Learning  and 
Interpretation  of  Scriptures  at  the  General  Episcopal  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York,  residing  at  the  Seminary. 

He  received  the  degrees  of  M.  A.  and  D.D.  from  Columbia  College. 
His  published  works  were  various  occasional  sermons,  and  the  fol- 
lowing :  "  The  Christianity  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  Six- 
teenth Century  ;"  "  The  Supremacy  and  Obligation  of  Conscience ;" 
"  American  Slavery  Distinguished  from  the  Slavery  of  English 
Theorists,  and  Justified  by  the  Law  of  Nature;"  "  The  Theory  and 
Use  of  the  Church  Calendar."  A  sermon  preached  at  the  funeral  of 
the  late  Right  Rev.  Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk,  Bishop  of  New  York, 
entitled  "  Witness  unto  Truth,"  had  a  large  circulation.  For  some 
years  his  health  was  impaired,  but  he  continued  to  discharge  his 
duties  as  professor  until  his  sudden  and  lamented  decease  on  Thurs- 
day, October  10th,  1872,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years. 

The  present  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation  is  very 

511 


REV.     WILLIAM     J.     SEABURY. 

efficient  and  popular.  The  congregation  is  still  numerous,  and  the 
choral  services  are  noted  as  being  among  the  best  in  the  city.  There 
are  daily  morning  and  evening  prayers,  and  the  weekly  communion. 

In  1 865,  and  again  in  1872,  Mr.  Seabury  visited  Europe.  On  the 
29th  of  October,  1868,  he  was  married  to  Alice  Van  Wyck,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Marston  Beare,  of  New  York.  In  1873  he  was  elected 
Charles  and  Elizabeth  Ludlow  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity  and 
Law,  in  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Seminary,  New  York. 

Mr.  Seabury  is  of  the  average  height,  and  equally  proportioned. 
He  has  an  intelligent  countenance,  and  is  affable  in  his  manners  and 
address.  The  Seabury  family,  through  generations,  has  been  one 
prominent  for  its  religious  and  social  culture,  its  clear,  practical 
intelligence  and  earnest  usefulness  in  life.  This  gentleman,  in  all 
these  characteristics,  is  but  a  follower  in  the  peculiarities  and  foot- 
steps of  an  illustrious  ancestry.  He  has  tlie  highest  virtue,  much 
grasp  of  mind,  and  is  ever  busy  in  the  Lord's  work.  He  writes 
and  preaches  with  scholarly  power  and  eloquence,  and  his  daily  life 
is  true  to  principle  and  duty.  He  has  published  a  pamphlet  con- 
taining an  essay  on  the  question  of  "  The  Lawfulness  of  Marriage 
with  the  Sister  of  a  Deceased  Wife,"  with  "  Thoughts  on  a  Proposed 
Canon,"  whicli  are  papers  of  great  logic  and  power,  upholding  the 
Levitical  law,  prohibiting  marriages  within  this  degree  of  kindred. 
Making  no  assumption  in  regard  to  either  merit  or  success,  still  he  is 
a  man  whose  career  in  both  particulars  is  likely  to  be  very  highly 
esteemed  by  his  fellow-men, 

512 


REV.  NORM   SEAYER,   D.  D., 

l^AJSTiyTt      <tJ>F"     the:    FI«HT     mES^BYTERTA-lV 
CHXJKCH    (HE?»fRY    ST.),     miOOItI^Y?<f. 


EY.  DR  NOEMAN  SEAVEE  was  born  in  Boston,  Mas- 
sachusetts, April  28d,  1884,  He  was  graduated  at  the 
Latin  School  of  that  city  in  1850,  and  at  Williams 
College  in  1854.  In  the  following  year  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Boston  bar,  where  he  practiced  for  some 
■^  time.  He  determined,  however,  to  study  for  the  ministry, 
and,  entering  the  theological  seminary  at  Andover,  Massa- 
chusetts, he  pursued  these  investigations  from  1858  to  1860,  when 
he  was  graduated.  His  first  settlement  was  over  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Eutland,  Vermont,  where  he  was  ordained  and  installed 
in  August,  1861.  After  a  faithful  service  of  over  seven  years,  he 
accepted  a  call  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Henry  street, 
Brooklyn,  which  is  his  present  field  of  duty.  He  received  the 
degree  of  D.  D.  from  Middletown  College,  in  Vermont,  about 
1866. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Henry  street  is  an  old  or- 
ganization, early  undei-  the  care  of  the  celebrated  Eev.  Dr.  Carroll, 
and  then  under  that  of  the  learned  Eev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  who 
was  installed  in  May,  1837.  At  the  period  of  the  difficulties  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  finally  led  to  the  formation  of  what 
was  called  the  Old  and  New  School  branches,  a  division  took  place 
in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Brooklyn,  the  seceders  adhering 
to  the  Old  School  body,  and  those  remaining  to  the  New.  Both  took 
the  title  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  still  retain  it,  though 
now  a  part  of  the  re-united  Presbyterian  Church,  and  members  of 
the  same  Presbytery.  The  other  congregation  was,  for  a  long  time, 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Jacobus,  who,  in  1853,  was 
succeeded  by  the  Eev,  Dr.  Van  Dyke.  The  church  is  more  par- 
ticularly designated  as   the  First  Presbyterian  Cburch  in  Remsen 

513 


REV.    NORMAN    SEAVER,    D.D. 

street.  Dr.  Cox  retired  from  the  pastorship  of  the  First  Church  in 
Henry  street,  after  laboring  seventeen  years,  leaving  it  one  of  the 
most  numerous  and  wealthy  congregations  of  Brooklyn.  His  first 
successor  did  not  remain  very  long,  and  the  next  pastor  was  the 
Eev.  Dr.  Charles  S.  Robinson,  who  came  <in  March,  1860,  and  re- 
mained several  years.  Dr.  Seaver  next  became  the  pastor.  There 
is  a  present  membership  of  about  six  hundred  persons.  A  Mission 
chapel,  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Wood,  and  a  Sunday 
School,  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  scholars,  located  in  Concord  street, 
near  the  Navy  Yard,  are  supported  by  the  First  Cliurch,  and  the 
home  Sunday  School  has  one  hundred  and  fifty  scholars. 

Dr.  Seaver  is  of  the  average  height,  with  a  well-proportioned 
and  erect  figure.  His  eyes  and  complexion  are  light,  and,  in  every 
particular,  he  is  an  excellent  type  of  the  New  Englander.  He  is 
polite  and  friendly  in  his  manners,  with,  however,  more  reserve  than 
forwardness.  He  talks  pleasantly,  and  it  is  evident  that  he  is  a  per- 
son of  the  utmost  sincerity  and  kindness  of  feeling.  In  study  he 
is  an  intellectual  investigator,  looking  deeply  into  all  subjects,  and 
in  his  pastoral  labors  he  is  conscientious,  devoted,  and  energetic. 
He  preaches  with  a  pointed  and  clear  explanation  of  his  theme,  and 
with  an  earnest  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  those  committed 
to  his  charge.  With  constantly  unfolding  talents,  and  a  steadfast 
purpose  in  doing  his  whole  duty,  he  is  one  of  the  men  upon  whom 
his  denomination  and  society  may  rely  as  a  strong  bulwark. 

5M 


KEY.  GEORGE  F.  SEYMOUR,  D.  D., 

PllOFESSOR    OF    ECC'LESIASTICj^IL,    IIISTOTIY    IIV 

THE    EI»ISCOr»jt.E    OE1VERA.E    THEOLOGie^L 

©E3i:i]VAIlY,      IVEA^    YOllKl. 


'  EY.  DR.  GEORGE  F.  SEYMOUR  was  bom  in  the  citj 
of  New  York,  January  6tb,  1829,  and  is  the  son  of  Isaac 
IST.  Seymour,  Esq.,  for  forty -four  years  treasurer  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  and  Elvira  B.,  both 
deceased.  His  academic  education  was  obtained  at  the  Gram- 
mar School  of  Columbia  College,  and  svibsequently  at  the 
College.  He  entered  the  freshman  class,  and  obtained  and  held  the 
headship  of  his  class  until  his  graduation  in  1850,  At  the  semi- 
annual exhibition  of  1848,  when  a  sophomore,  he  gained  the  highest 
prize  for  declamation,  having  as  his  competitor  the  present  distin- 
guished rector  of  Trinity  parish,  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix.  On  gradua- 
tion he  spoke  the  Greek  salutatory,  which  was  a  poem  of  remarkable 
finish  and  power.  He  entered  the  Episcopal  General  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York,  in  the  autumn  of  1851,  and  was  graduated 
in  the  summer  of  1854.  He  was  ordained  by  the  Right  Rev. 
Horatio  Potter,  D.  D.,  in  t*lie  Church  of  the  Ascension  (Dr.  Seabury), 
New  York,  on  Sundaj^,  the  17th  of  December,  1854,  Dr.  Seabury 
preaching  the  sermon.  His  first  work  was  in  founding  a  mission 
station  at  Annandale,  in  Dutchess  county.  New  York,  where  he  was 
efficiently  engaged  from  January,  1855,  until  July,  1861.  During 
this  period,  through  Mr.  Seymour's  instrumentality  and  energy,  the 
parish  of  Holy  Innocents,  with  which  he  was  connected,  erected  a 
beautiful  stone  church  at  a  cost  of  some  thirty  thousand  dollars.  Just 
as  the  building  was  about  ready  for  occupation,  in  December,  1859, 
it  took  fire  from  a  defective  flue,  and  was  entirely  destroyed  except 
the  walls.  Mr.  Seymour  at  once  collected  money  and  began  the  work 
of  rebuilding  it,  and  on  the  2d  of  February,  1860,  it  was  duly  con- 
secrated.    The  entire  cost  of  the  building  was  subsequently  assumed 

by  John  Bard,  Esq.,  a  wealthy  resident  of  the  vicinity,  and  the  funds 

515 


REV.     GEORGE     F.     SEYMOUR.     D.  D. 

originally  collected  were  applied  to  the  purchase  of  an  organ  and 
other  church  furniture.  A  school,  designed  for  the  education  of 
young  men  preparing  for  holy  orders,  was  established,  in  connection 
with  the  parish,  which  has  since  been  incorporated  under  the  title  of 
St.  Stephen's  College.  Mr.  Bard  has  endowed  it  by  the  donation  of 
property  at  Annandale  valued  at  sixty  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Sey- 
mour was  the  first  warden  of  the  institution.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  his  parochial  report  of  1861  : 

"  When  I  went  to  Annandale  in  1855,  there  were  five  communicants.  The  people 
of  the  neighborhood,  belonging,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  humbler  classes,  were 
strangers  to  our  church,  and  strongly  prejudiced  against  it.  During  the  six  years 
of  my  sojourn  at  Annandale,  through  God's  blessing,  great  changes  were  wrought  for 
the  better.  The  face  of  things  in  the  rural  parish  was  made  to  wear  a  new  aspect. 
Through  the  instrumentality  of  the  parish  school  and  other  apjiliances,  all  looking 
to  the  one  end,  the  winning  of  souls  to  Christ,  the  people  became  interested,  and  m 
large  numbers  offered  themselves  and  their  little  ones  to  God.  A  beautiful  stone 
church  was  built,  burnt  down,  and  rebuilt.  An  educational  scheme,  for  preparing 
young  men  designed  for  holy  orders  to  enter  on  their  theological  studies,  was 
matured  into  St.  Stephen's  College,  chartered  by  the  State,  with  twelve  students 
and  two  instructors.  One  of  my  last  official  acts  was  to  remove  the  first  shovelful 
of  earth  for  the  foundation  of  the  buildings  of  St.  Stephen's  College." 

Dr.  Seymour  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop  Potter,  in  Zion 
Church,  Greenburg,  Westchester  county,  September  23d,  1855,  Dr. 
John  McVickar  preaching  the  sermon.  In  November,  1861,  he  be- 
came rector  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Manhattimville.  During  1862  he 
liad  four  young  men  with  him  in  course  of  preparation  for  the  General 
Theological  Seminary,  to  whom  he  devoted  five  hours  each  day. 
One  of  the  largest  classes  ever  presented  in  St  Mary's  parish  was 
confirmed  by  the  bishop  at  his  visitation  in  June  of  the  same  year. 
Dr.  Seymour  accepted  the  rectorship  of  Christ  Church,  Hudson,  in 
October,  1862,  where  he  remained  one  year.  During  the  year  a 
commodious  chapel  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  four  thousand 
dollars.  Dr.  Seymour  continued,  in  connection  with  his  onerous 
parochial  duties,  the  instruction  of  two  of  the  young  men  before 
mentioned.  In  October,  1863,  he  assumed  charge  of  St.  John's 
Church,  Brooklyn,  having  also  a  call  to  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Phila- 
delphia. St  John's  congregation  at  the  time  was  much  divided,  but 
under  Dr.  Seymour's  ministiy  became  united  and  more  numerous. 

He  subsequently  accepted  his  present  position  of  Professor  of  Ec- 
clesiastical History  in  the  Episcopal  General  Theological  Seminary 
of  New  York.     He  was  brought  prominently  before  the  Convention 

of  the  Diocese  of  Missouri,   held  at  St  Louis,  September  3d,  1868, 

516 


REV.      GEORGE     F.     SEYMOUR,     D.  D. 

as  a  candidate  for  bishop.  He  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  of 
both  orders,  clerical  and  lay,  present  in  convention ;  but  the  canon 
required  a  majority  of  all  the  parishes  in  the  Diocese,  and  of  all  the 
clergy  entitled  to  seats  in  Convention.  He  was  five  times  chosen  by 
the  clergy,  and  was  within  three  votes  necessary  to  a  choice  by  the 
laity  on  one  ballot. 

Dr.  Seymour  preaches  frequently.  He  has  edited  various  church 
publications,  and  written  several  able  pamphlets. 

He  is  under  the  medium  height,  of  slender  proportions,  and 
altogether  of  a  rather  delicate  organization.  His  face  shows 
characteristics  o±  the  highest  order  of  intellect  and  of  a  gentle, 
elevated  nature.  He  looks  as  the  studious,  thoughtful  man,  absorbed 
in  mental  labor,  and  applying  all  his  energies  of  mind,  and  boly  to 
the  attainment  of  higher  cultivation  and  the  profoundest  conceptions 
of  logic  and  truth.  Further  examination  of  his  face  will  show  that 
it  is  the  index,  also,  to  a  heart,  from  youth  np,  singularly  pure, 
manly,  and  inspired  of  God.  Nature  has  written  in  her  own  tracings 
on  his  imposing  brow — scholar;  and  the  smile  which  lingers  about 
his  mouth  has  its  source  of  Christian  brightness  in  the  sunshine  of 
the  virtuous  heart.  His  boyhood  and  his  manhood  have  been  alike 
illustrated  by  the  same  traits  of  character,  these  being  a  love  of  well- 
doing and  a  desire  for  knowledge,  and  to  these  his  as  yet  brief  but 
brilliant  life  has  been  sacredly  and  wholly  devoted.  And  as  the  rays 
of  light,  falling  upon  the  flower,  give  it  color  and.  beauty,  in  like 
manner  the  glory  of  the  expanding  mind  and  the  triumphs  of  the 
upi'ight  heart  have  left  their  lines  of  lustre  and  of  goodness  to  speak 
to  men  in  his  very  countenance.  His  attire  declares  his  religious 
calling;  and  no  one  can  look  at  him  and  for  a  moment  doubt  that  he 
is  most  faithful  and  energetic  in  the  work  set  for  him  to  do.  His 
manners  are  courteous,  though  somewhat  dignified  and  retiring.  His 
conversational  powers  are  excellent,  and  his  language  always  choice ; 
when  the  occasion  will  justify  it,  is  scholarly  in  the  extreme.  His 
greatest  pleasure  is  taken  in  intellectual  society,  and  particularly 
with  those  who,  like  himself,  explore  the  less  familiar  paths  of  wis- 
dom. AYith  keen  perceptions  of  character,  he  unites  a  generous 
appi'cciation  of  merit  and  attachments  the  most  sincere. 

Dr.  Seymour's  sermons  are  argumentative  and  forcibly  written. 
He  never  seems  to  care  for  display,  but  is  always  seeking  the  incul- 
cation of  some  important  rule  of  doctrine  or  of  morals.     His  words 

are  evidently  heartfelt ;  and  where  there  is  necessity  for  learned  ex 

517 


RLV.     GEORGE     F.     SEYMOUR,     D.  D. 

planatioii,  it  is  given  with  mncli  thoroughness  and  entirely  without 
ostentation.     He  is  very  animated,  and  at  times  gesticulates  freely. 

Few  clergymen  have  accomplished  so  much  at  an  early  period  of 
life.  When  attending  regularly  to  his  parochial  duties,  he  prepared 
fourteen  young  men  for  the  theological  seminary,  and  always  had  a 
class  studying  with  the  same  view.  He  founded  a  parish,  built  a 
church,  and  has  been  rector  in  four  parishes.  He  is  esteemed  by  the 
learned  and  distinguished  men  of  the  Episcopal  church  as  an  earnest 
and  accomplished  co-laborer,  and  his  associations  with  the  lay  masses, 
in  all  his  fields  of  effort,  have  been  of  the  happiest  natui-e,  and  highly 
efficacious  to  the  cause  of  religion.  As  a  professor  he  has  brought 
additional  renown  to  the  institution  with  which  he  is  connected  by 
his  profound  scholarship,  and  success  in  imparting  instruction  to 
those  under  his  charga 

518 


REV.  WILLIAM  G.  T.  SHEDD,  D.  D., 

mOFEiWiSOK    IIV    THE     XJlVIOiV     THEOI^OGICJlXj 


'EY.  DR  WILLIAM  G.  T.  SHEDD  was  bom  at  Acton, 
Massachusetts,  June  21st,  1820.  He  was  graduated  at 
the  University  of  Vermont,  in  1839,  and  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary  in  1843.  The  following  year  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Brandon,  Ver- 
mont, and  in  1845  was  appointed  professor  of  English  Literature 
in  the  University  of  Vermont.  He  accepted  the  chair  of  Sacred 
Rhetoric  in  Auburn  Theological  Seminary  in  1852,  but  two  years 
later  went  to  Andover  as  professor  of  Church  History.  In  1862 
he  was  installed  as  associate  pastor  with  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring  at  the 
Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  avenue.  New  York,  where  he  re- 
mained several  years.  He  edited  and  published  a  translation  of 
Theremin's  "Rhetoric,"  New  York,  1850,  and  an  edition  with  an 
introductory  essay,  Andover,  1859 ;  also  an  edition  of  Coleridge's 
works,  with  an  introductory  essay,  seven  volumes.  New  York,  1853, 
beside  "Discourses  and  Essays,"  Andover,  1856;  "Lectures  upon 
the  Philosophy  of  History,"  Andover,  1856 ;  a  translation  of  Guericke's 
"  Church  History,"  two  volumes,  Andover,  1857-63  ;  and  Augustine's 
"  Confessions,"  with  an  introductory  essay,  1860.  He  has  preached 
as  a  temporary  supply  of  several  of  the  city  pulpits.  A  number  of 
years  since  he  accepted  his  present  position  of  professor  of  Biblical 
Literature  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York. 

He  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  has  a  thin,  pale  face.  His  brow 
is  large  and  round,  showing  much  intellectuality.  All  his  move- 
ments are  quick  and  nervous.  He  is  a  studious,  learned,  and  deeply 
religious  man.  As  a  professor  he  has  won  distinction  in  the  different 
institutions  with  which  he  has  been  connected,  and  his  published 
writings  are  greatly  valued  for  both  scholarship  and  literary  taste. 
His  sermons  are  thoroughly  practical,  sound  in  doctrines,  and  logical 
In  argument  ^^^ 


REV.  IIOBERT  8L0SS, 

I»A.©TOIt      OF      TIUH:      U-OUKTEEIVTH     STllEET 
I»ltE:SBYTI2rtTA.][V    CHURCH,    NETV  YOKIt. 


|EV.    EGBERT    SLOSS    was   born   in  the  city   of    New 

York,    November  23d,    1838.      He  prepared  for  college 

^^^  at  Media,    Pa.,    and  entered  Princeton  College  in  1861. 

^  During   the    course    he    received    the    honor   of  Junior 

r  Orator,  and  delivered  the  second  belles-leitres  oration  at  com- 
nencement  In  the  fall  of  1865  he  entered  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  About  May  1st,  1867,  he  was  commissioned 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  General  Association  of  New  Hampshire,  to 
labor  during  a  few  months'  vacation  in  a  Congregational  church  at 
Canaan,  New  Plampshire,  which  he  did  with  unusual  success.  In 
September,  1867,  he  was  appointed  tutor  of  Rhetoric  in  College,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  to  the  end  of  his  theological  course.  He 
became  pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  church  of  Indianapolis, 
June  1st,  1868,  where  he  remained  until  he  came  to  the  Fourteenth 
Street  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York,  m  June,  1872. 

During  the  great  religious  revival  in  New  York,  from  1830  to 
1835,  a  new  Presbyterian  church  organization  was  made  in  the  eastern 
section  of  the  city.  This  was  known  as  the  Brainerd  Church,  and 
was  organized  February  9th,  1834,  with  sixteen  members,  and  Rev. 
Dr.  Asa  D,  Smith,  then  fresh  from  the  Theological  Seminary,  but 
now  President  of  Dartmouth  College,  was  called  to  the  pastorship. 
The  first  place  of  worship  was  an  upper  room  at  a  noisy  corner  of 
Essex  and  Stanton  streets,  over  a  place  of  low  traffic.  "  A  lowly 
sanctuary  it  was,"  says  Dr.  Smith,  in  a  farewell  sermon  to  his  congre- 
gation ;  "  but  I  am  sure  that  no  sculptured  column  or  vaulted  roof, 
no  enamel  or  tracery  of  finely  arched  windows,  no  long-drawn  aisle, 
or  lofty  tower,  or  spire  piercing  the  skies,  would  have  added  to  the 
charm  with  which,  as  seen  through  the  vista  of  departed  years, 
memory  invests  it." 

520 


BEV.     ROBERT    SLOCS. 

A  chxirch  was  erected  in  Kivington  street,  at  a  cost  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  whicli  was  dedicated  on  January  17th,  1836,  and 
here  the  congregation  worshiped  until  Sunday,  May  11th,  1851.  It 
was  now  found  necessary  to  remove  to  a  situation  up  town.  A  union 
was  effected  with  the  Sixth  street  Church,  and  a  new  organization 
was  formed  May  18th,  1851,  under  the  title  of  the  Fourteenth  street 
Presbyterian  Church,  with  a  membership  of  two  hundred  and 
seventy-four,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  were  from  the 
Brainerd  Church,  aud  seventy-nine  from  the  Sixth  street  Church.  A 
considerable  portion  of  the  members  of  the  Brainerd  Church,  unable 
to  remove,  united  with  congregations  near  them.  The  old  church 
was  devoted  to  the  gathering  of  a  German  congregation,  a  population 
which  had  become  very  numerous  in  the  district. 

The  corner-stone  of  a  new  edifice,  to  be  erected  on  the  corner  of 
Fourteenth  street  and  Second  avenue,  was  laid  July  22d,  1850,  and 
the  building  was  dedicated  January  22d,  1851,  the  lecture-room  hav- 
ing been  occupied  since  the  previous  spring.  The  cost  of  the  whole 
property,  including  the  church  furniture,  was  about  sixty  thousand 
dollars.  A  moderate  debt  on  it  at  first  was  soon  extinguished.  The 
congregation  increased  so  rapidly  that  at  one  time  the  trustees  had 
under  serious  consideration  a  plan  for  the  enlargement  of  the  accom- 
modations. In  the  twelve  years  and  a  half  of  Dr.  Smith's  ministry 
in  Fourteenth  street,  1,393  persons  were  admitted  to  the  church,  627 
of  them  on  profession  of  their  faith. 

Dr.  Smith  preached  his  farewell  sermon  November  15th,  1863. 
The  pulpit  had  temporary  supplies  until  Mr.  Hitchcock  was  installed 
in  April  1866,  who  remained  until  early  in  the  year  1872,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  Sloss. 

The  congregation  has  now  about  four  hundred  and  fifty-nine 
members,  and  in  the  regular  and  mission  Sunday  Schools  there  are 
five  hundred  and  fifty  children. 

A  well  informed  observer  of  Mr.  Sloss  and  his  career  writes  as 
follows  : — "  In  the  pulpit  Mr.  Sloss  impresses  you  with  the  fact  that 
he  is  deeply  in  earnest  and  fully  alive  to  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
in  which  he  is  engaged.  His  prayers  are  brief,  pointed,  fervent ;  re- 
markably free  from  set  forms  of  expression,  comprising  but  few 
objects  of  desire,  and  these  always  appropriate  to  the  time  and  the 
occasion,  and  usually  referring  to  the  subject  of  the  coming  discourse. 
His  sermons  give  evidence  of  close  study  and  careful  preparation. 

Each  discourse  is  complete  in  itself,  contains  but  few  divisions  or 

521 


REV.     ROBERT    SLOSS. 

heads,  and  these  are  so  logically  arranged,  clearly  presented,  and  fully 
illustrated  that  the  hearers  are  enabled,  not  only  to  understand,  but 
also  to  remember  them. 

"  As  a  writer,  his  style  is  clear,  concise,  vigorous — his  illustrations 
being  employed  rather  to  add  clearness  and  strength  than  for  orna- 
ment Possessing  a  thoroughly  trained  voice  of  remarkable  flexibil- 
ity, power,  and  pathos,  his  elocution  is  characterized  by  great  distinct- 
ness of  enunciation  and  wonderful  adaptedness  of  expression  to  the 
sentiments  uttered. 

"Mr.  Sloss  preaches  the  gospel  in  its  purity,  and  therein,  doubt- 
less, is  the  chief  element  of  his  success.  Instead  of  wasting  his 
energies  in  denunciation  of  this  evil,  that  sin,  or  the  other  evil  prac- 
tice ;  or  in  commendation  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  virtue,  he  pro- 
claims, with  all  earnestness,  the  great  doctrines  of  repentance  toward 
God,  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  radical  cure  of  all 
evil,  and  the  grand  incentive  to  all  good." 

Mr.  Sloss  is  rather  under  the  medium  height,  with  a  large  body, 
and  possesses  a  vigorous  physical  constitution.  His  head  is  large, 
having  an  excellent  intellectual  development.  His  expression  is 
serious,  and  his  manners  are  composed  and  dignified.  In  the  course 
of  eleven  months  of  his  pastorate  in  Indianapolis  seventy-nine  per- 
sons were  added  to  the  church,  fifty-eight  of  whom  were  on  profession 
of  faith.  His  ministry  in  New  York  is  characterized  by  the  same 
earnestness  and  fidelity  to  duty,  and  already  gives  evidence  that  it 
will  be  marked  by  like  beneficial  results  to  the  church  and  society 
at  larere. 

^  522 


^^:7^S^^SZ(^^SX.^ 


REY.  JOHN  COTTON  SMITH,  D.  D., 

RECTOR    OF  THE    CHiURdl   OF    THE   A.SClEi7fSI07f , 

iVE^V   YORIt. 


EV.  DR.  JOHN  COTTON  SMITH  was  born  August  4th, 
1S26,  at  Andover,  Mass.  His  family  was  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  in  the  early  history  of  New  England, 
and  his  Cliristian  name,  besides  being  borne  by  the  cele- 
brated John  Cotton,  of  Boston,  in  England,  and  afterward 
of  Boston,  in  Mass.,  was  derived  more  strictly  from  his  uncle., 
the  late  John  Cotton  Smith,  Governor  of  Connecticut  Dr. 
Smith's  father  was  the  late  Thomas  M.  Smith,  D.  D.,  President  of 
Kenyon  College,  and  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary of  the  diocese  of  Ohio.  His  grandfather,  on  his  mother's 
side,  was  the  distinguished  theologian,  Leonard  Woods,  of  Andover. 
He  was  the  nephew  also  of  the  Leonard  Woods,  Jr.,  lately  President 
of  Bowdoin  College. 

Dr.  Smith  was  graduated,  with  the  first  honors  of  his  class,  at 
Bowdoin  College  in  1847,  after  a  preparatory  course  at  Phillips' 
Academy,  Andover.  His  theological  course  was  pursued  at  the 
Theological  Seminary,  Gambier,  Ohio.  He  was  ordained  deacon,  b}'" 
Bishop  Mcllvaine,  of  Ohio,  in  1849,  and  priest,  by  Bishop  Burgess, 
of  Maine,  in  1850.  His  first  parish  was  that  of  St  John's,  Bangor, 
Maine.  In  1852  he  became  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church, 
Boston.  He  was  invited  to  this  position  upon  what  is  called  the 
Greene  Foundation.  This  Foundation  is  an  endowment  held  by  a 
Board  of  Trustees,  the  whole  income  of  which  is  to  be  devoted  to 
the  support  of  an  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  with  certain 
specified  duties.  In  1859  Dr.  Smith  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of 
the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  New  York,  upon  the  duties  of  which 
he  entered  January  1st,  1860.  He  was  preceded  in  this  office  by 
the  late  Bishop  Eastburn,  of  Mass.,  and  Bishop  Bedell,  the  present 
Bishop  of  Ohio. 

During  his  rectorship  in  New  York,  Dr.  Smith  has  devoted  him- 

523 


REV.     JOHN    COTTON    SMITH,    D.  D. 

self  veiy  largely  to  the  problem  of  Pauperism,  especially  in  the  city 
of  his  professional  labors.  Under  his  auspices  the  first  successful 
attempt  to  establish  Model  Tenement  Houses  was  made,  and  a  block 
of  such  houses  is  now  imder  the  management  of  an  association  con- 
nected with  his  parish.  In  connection  with  such  efforts  he  has  been 
instrumental  in  establishing  several  mission  chapels,  with  large  en- 
dowments, and  various  agencies  for  the  moral  and  temporal  welfare 
of  the  poor.  The  scholars  in  the  various  schools  under  his  charge 
number  between  two  and  three  thousand.  Ten  candidates  for  the 
ministry  are  at  present  pursuing  their  studies  under  his  direction, 
and  are  engaged  in  various  departments  of  his  missionary  work. 
He  has  also  four  assistants  in  orders. 

Dr.  Smith  has  written  and  published  extensively  upon  religious, 
scientific,  and  literary  suojects.  Among  these  publications  are  the 
following:  "  Chanty  of  Truth,"  "  The  Liturgy  as  a  basis  of  Union," 
"  The  Church's  Law  of  Development,"  "  The  Oxford  Essays  and. 
Reviews,"  "  The  Homeric  Age,"  "  The  Principle  of  Patriotism," 
"  The  United  States  a  Nation,"  and  one  just  now  in  press,  entitled 
"  Evolution  and  a  Personal  Creator."  He  is  also  the  proprietor  and 
editor-in-chief  of  the  Church  and  State,  to  which  his  contributions 
are  very  numerous,  and  cover  a  wide  variety  of  subjects. 

Dr.  Smith  is  an  officer  in  a  large  number  of  missionary,  religious, 
charitable,  and  literary  societies,  and  spends  a  very  considerable 
amount  of  time  in  attendance  upon  committee  meetings.  The  life  of 
a  parish  clergyman  in  New  York  renders  necessary  the  performance 
of  an  immense  amount  of  this  kind  of  work,  which  is  not  strictly 
professional  in  its  chai'acter.  This  fact  enlarges,  in  one  sense,  the 
sphere  of  a  pastor's  influence,  but  almost  inevitably  withdraws  him, 
to  some  extent,  from  labors  more  strictly  appropriate  to  his  ofiice, 
and  in  which,  if  he  were  only  permitted  to  do  so,  he  might  be  even 
more  usefully  employed. 

The  Church  of  the  Ascension,  of  which  Dr.  Smith  is  the  rector, 
is  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  in  the  country.  Its  con- 
tributions, during  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Smith — a  period  of  about  fif- 
teen years — have  amounted  to  not  far  from  a  million  of  dollars.  Some 
very  important  works  have  been  carried  on  and  entirely  completed 
by  the  contributions  of  this  church,  Aspinwall  Hall,  at  the  l^heo- 
logical  Seminary  at  Alexandria,  was  erected  by  two  of  its  members. 
Ascension  Hall  and  tlie  Church  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  at  Gambier, 
Ohio,  both   of  them  very  beautiful  buildings,  were  gifts  from  the 

524 


REV.    JOHN    COTTOX    SMITH,    D.  D. 

members  of  this  parish.  This  is  the  case  also  with  the  Church  of 
the  Ascension  at  Ipswich,  Mass.,  where  Dr.  Smith  has  a  summer 
home,  the  building  being  one  of  the  most  attractive  in  that  State. 
The  charge  of  the  church  is  assumed  by  Dr.  Smith  during  his  vaca- 
tion, and  during  the  rest  of  the  year  it  is  under  the  care  of  one  of  his 
assistants. 

Besides  his  ordinary  pulpit  duties,  Dr.  Smith  has  been  accus- 
tomed, in  the  Advent  season  of  each  year,  to  deliver  a  course  of  ser- 
mons on  Sunday  evenings,  upon  the  relations  to  Cliristianity  of  pre- 
valent views  upon  scientific,  literary,  and  social  questions.  These 
sermons  have  always  been  lai'gely  attended  by  a  class  of  thinking 
men,  not  usually  seen  in  churches.  The  course  for  Advent,  1874,  is 
already  announced.  The  subject  is  to  be  "  The  Problem  of  Pau- 
perism." 

Dr.  Smith  was  of  the  number  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  who  fa- 
vored the  assembling  of  the  Church  Congress  of  that  denomination, 
which  was  held  in  New  York  in  October,  1874.  He  read  an  able 
paper  before  it,  on  the  subject  of  "  The  Limits  of  Legislation  as  to 
Doctrine  and  Eitual." 

Dr.  Smith  is  in  strong  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  modern  so- 
ciet\',  and  labors  to  have  that  spirit  recognized  and  consecrated  by 
the  Cliui'ch.  At  the  same  time  he  is  a  strong  adherent  of  the  his- 
torical faith  to  which  all  ages  bear  witness,  so  that  he  is  at  once  pro- 
gressive and  conservative.  While  holding  strong  views  of  the  claims 
of  the  church,  of  which  he  is  a  minister,  and  devotedly  attached  to 
its  polity  and  worship,  he  is  in  deep  sympathy  with  Christian  life 
and  work  wherever  found.  He  insists  upon  the  necessity  of  main- 
taining the  catholic  and  comprehensive  character  of  the  church,  as  a 
protest  against  certain  tendencies,  in  it,  to  sectarianism.  In  carrying 
out  this  view  he  has  frequently  defended  the  ecclesiastical  position 
of  those  with  whose  views  he  did  not  personally  agree,  so  long  as 
they  could  be  regarded  as  at  all  within  the  limits  of  the  comprehen- 
siveness of  the  church.  In  doctrine  he  is  evangelical,  in  the  sense 
of  holding,  with  special  emphasis,  what  are  known  as  the  Augus- 
tinian  views  of  grace,  and  the  Anselmian  views  of  the  atonement.  He 
holds,  however,  higher  views  of  the  sacraments,  and  broader  views 
of  freedom  in  religious  inquiry  than  have  been  customary  among 
those  who  are  called  "  evangelicals."  His  position,  in  short,  is  that 
of  a  catholicit}^,  having  its  roots  in  the  Christian  past,  but  growing 

more  bi'oadly  and  freely  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  present  age. 

525 


REV.    JOHN    COTTON    SMITH,     D.  D. 

As  a  preacher  and  writer,  Dr.  Smith  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
strongest  men  of  his  denomination.  There  is  nothing  superficial  or 
incomplete  in  his  attainments,  and,  as  a  consequence,  he  is  distin- 
guished at  once  for  ability  and  influence  in  every  branch  of  profes- 
sional effort.  His  opinions  are  all  sincere,  and  closely  intermingled 
with  his  personal  emotions,  so  that  those  who  find  it  necessary  to 
combat  them,  encounter  in  him  an  eager  and  vigilant  opponent, 
while  those  who  are  in  harmony  with  him,  are  constantly  enlight- 
ened by  his  learning  and  encouraged  by  his  confidence.  Capable  of 
a  large  amount  of  mental  and  physical  labor,  and  having  an  immense 
talent  for  executive  direction,  he  performs  far  more  than  the  usual 
tasks  and  occupations  of  an  ordinary  clergyman ;  but,  after  all,  they 
seem,  with  him,  merely  a  congenial  activity  in  the  line  of  conscien- 
tious duty.  In  preaching  he  is  dignified  and  impressive  in  his  deliv- 
ery, and  choice  and  powerful  in  the  language  which  he  employs.  As 
a  writer,  in  every  field  of  discussion,  he  has  the  skill  which  belongs 
to  the  combination  of  natural  gifts,  wide  erudition,  and  long  ex- 
perience. 

In  personal  appearance  Dr.  Smith  is  of  the  medium  height,  erect, 

and  dignified,  and  wears  the  clerical  costume.     His  head  is  large, 

with    refined  features,  and   a   strikingly   intellectual   development. 

While  there  is  a  natural  reserve  in  both  his  manners  and  sjeech,  he 

shows  true  warmth  of  feeling  and  congeniality  in  social  companion- ' 

ship.    A  close  student  and  a  deep  thinker,  he  is  thoroughly  scholarly 

in   his   tastes,  but  he  is  not  less  a  practical  worker  in  the  active 

spheres  of  duty.     Giving  to  the  church  and  to  literature  the  impress 

of  his  talents  and  labors,  he  is  widely  esteemed  and  beloved  in  the 

private  relations  of  life. 

526 


REY.  J.  HYAH  SMITH. 


PA.STOK.     OF      THE      LEE      A.VEIVXJE      BA.T»XIST 
CHUKCII,     BKOOItl-iYN. 


lEV.  J.  HYATT  SMITH  was  born  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  but  removed  early  to  Detroit,  Michigan.  He  was 
licensed  as  a  Baptist  minister  in  1848  in  Albany,  N.  Y. 
After  serving  a  pastorship  in  Poughkeepsie,  be  accepted  a 
to  the  Euclid  Street  Baptist  Church,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  In 
^  three  years  and  a  half  he  raised  the  membership  from  twelve  to 
three  hundred  and  fifty.  He  then  went  to  the  Washington  Street 
Church,  Buffalo,  one  of  the  largest  of  the  denomination,  where  he 
remained  five  years.  Here  he  also  ministered  with  great  success,  and 
hundreds  were  brought  into  the  church.  The  next  seven  years  were 
spent  as  the  pastor  of  the  Eleventh  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia. 
He  was  then  called  to  his  present  position  as  pastor  of  the  Lee  Avenue 
Baptist  Church,  in  the  Eastern  District  of  Brooklyn. 

He  is  likewise  an  author,  editor,  and  lecturer.  His  most  noted 
work  is  entitled  "  The  Open  Door,"  in  which  he  discusses  his  own 
peculiar  views  as  a  Baptist  He  holds  that  there  is  no  true  baptism 
but  immersion  on  profession  of  faith,  and  none  but  believers  so 
baptized  can  become  members  of  a  Baptist  church ;  while  there  is 
nothing  to  show  that  baptism  must  precede  the  Lord's  Supper,  and, 
therefore,  that  believers,  whether  baptized  or  not,  may  join  with  him 
and  he  with  them  in  the  ordinance.  The  attitude  thus  taken  in  favor 
of  open  communion  has  caused  him  to  be  widely  commented  upon 
both  in  and  out  of  his  denomination ;  but  he  has  maintained  his 
views  with  much  ability  in  the  pulpit  and  in  published  writings.  In 
the  meantime  a  very  great  religious  interest  has  been  shown  in  his 
church,  and,  as  in  his  other  pastorships,  many  have  been  converted. 
The  church  doubled  in  membership  within  a  few  months.    On  several 

527 


EEV.    J.    HYATT    SMITH. 

occasions  Mr.  Smith  has  preacbecl  to  an  audience  entirely  of  young 
men — some  fifteen  hundred  in  number. 

Mr.  Smith  is  erect,  and  well-proportioned,  with  a  head  and  face 
of  considerable  intellectuality.  You  see  at  once  that  he  is  a  thinker, 
not  less  than  a  worker  in  whatever  may  interest  him.  He  is  a  man 
who  always  feels  deeply ;  but  he  acts  calmly,  and  with  a  decision  and 
plans  that  are  seldom  changed.  Of  a  strong  religious  nature,  he  is 
unswerving  in  the  consistent  practice  of  the  duties  which  his  faith 
and  profession  impose  upon  him  ;  but  on  the  other  hand  he  will  ac- 
cept not  one  word  or  doctrine  which  his  own  scholarship  does  not 
sustain.  Hence  we  find  him  an  actual  reformer  in  his  denomination, 
doing  battle  valiantly  for  the  truth  as  he  understands  it.  In  preach- 
ing he  is  always  full  of  his  theme,  and  he  speaks  fervently  and  under- 
standingly.  His  record  as  a  minister  is  brilliant  in  the  extreme,  and 
he  seems  on  the  threshold  of  a  career  which  will  make  still  larger 
demands  upon  his  scholarly  and  ministerial  talents. 

528 


EEY.   WILLIAM   A.   SNIYELY,   A.  M., 

ItECTOK    Oir    GKA.CII:    ( EPI'SiCOI'^D    CIIUKCH, 
B  hook:  JL.  YIV. 


EV.  WILLIAM  A.  SNIVEL Y,  A.  M.,  was  born  in  trank- 
lin  countj,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  year  1833.  He  was 
graduated  at  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania, 
in  1852,  and  he  concluded  a  theological  course  at  the 
same  institution  in  1855.  During  the  latter  period  he  also  dis- 
23  charged  the  duties  of  tutor.  In  1855,  at  the  close  of  his  stud- 
ies, he  entered  the  Methodist  ministry  as  a  member  of  the  Baltimore 
Conference,  and  soon  became  distinguished  for  the  earnestness  and 
success  of  his  labors.  For  nine  years  he  was  appointed  to  the  lead- 
ing cli arches  in  Baltimore,  Cincinnati,  and  Pittsburg. 

Circumstances,  more  than  inclination,  had  led  him  into  the 
ministry  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  he  now  determined  to  enter 
the  Episcopal  denomination  and  ministry,  as  best  suited  to  his  views 
and  desires.  Accordingly,  in  1865,  he  was  made  a  deacon  in  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Philadelphia,  by  Bishop  William  B.  Stevens,  and 
later  in  the  same  year,  he  was  admitted  to  the  priesthood  by  the 
same  bishop.  He  was  first  the  rector  of  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Pitts- 
burg, and,  in  1867,  accepted  a  call  to  Christ  Church,  Cincinnati, 
where  he  remained  three  years.  In  1870  he  went  to  St.  Peters, 
Albany,  as  the  successor  of  the  Kev.  Dr.  William  C.  Doane,  w^ho 
had  been  elected  bishop  of  that  diocese.  His  next  call  was  to  his 
present  rectorship,  at  Grace  Church,  Brooklyn  Heights,  where  he 
succeeded  the  Eev.  Dr.  Benjamin  H.  Paddock,  who,  in  the  previous 
year,  had  been  elected  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  Massachusetts.  It 
is  somewhat  singular  that  in  two  instances,  Mr.  Snively  has  suc- 
ceeded rectors  who  have  been  elected  bishops.  He  was  installed  as 
the  rector  of  Grace  Church  on  Sunday,  May  24th,  1874,  on  which 
occasion  a  sermon  was  preached  by  Bishop  Littlejohn,  of  the  diocese 
of  Long  Island. 

Mr.  Snively  received  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  1852,  and  A.  M.  in 

529 


REV.     WILLIAM    A.     SNIVELY,    A.M. 

1855,  both  from  his  Jlma  Mater.  In  1871  he  was  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Episcopal  Convention,  held  at  Baltimore,  from  the  diocese  of 
Albany. 

Grace  Church  is  a  large  and  wealthy  parish.  The  late  distin- 
guished Kev.  Dr.  Francis  L.  Vinton,  at  his  death  in  1872,  one  of 
the  assistant  ministers  of  Trinity  parish,  New  York,  became  the  first 
rector  in  1847.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  E.  A.  Hoffman 
in  1864,  who  remained  several  years,  and  was  followed  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Paddock,  who  remained  from  May,  1869,  until  1873.  A  spa- 
cious and  tasteful  stone  church  was  erected,  soon  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  parish,  on  Hicks  street,  Brooklyn  Heights,  the  whole 
property  costing  over  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  There  are 
between  four  aud  five  hundred  communicants,  and  about  two  hun- 
dred families.  The  Sunday  School  has  about  two  hundred  children. 
A  parish  day  school  is  maintained.  In  1865  a  new  school  home, 
adjoining  the  church,  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  twelve  thousand 
dollars.  The  congregation  is  noted  in  the  diocese  for  its  liberal 
contributions  for  all  religious  and  benevolent  purposes.  The  ofier- 
ings  for  parochial  purposes,  during  a  single  year,  were  about  twenty- 
one  thousand  dollars,  and  for  diocesan  purposes,  over  eight  thousand^ 
making  in  all  over  twenty-nine  thousand  dollars.  In  1872  still  larger 
offerings  were  made,  amounting  to  over  fifty-one  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Snively  is  of  the  average  height,  very  erect,  and  walks  with 
the  solid  tread  of  a  man  in  the  full  vigor  of  health  and  activity. 
His  head  is  large,  his  face  handsome,  with  regular  features,  and  fine 
expressive  eyes.  His  face  is  calm  and  amiable,  but  it  shows  that 
decision,  resolution,  and  energy  are  prominent  characteristics  of  the 
individual.  Frank,  gentle,  and  trusting  in  all  the  mere  personal 
qualifications,  he  is  equally  by  nature  bold,  firm,  and  energetic  in 
his  labors  and  deeds.  As  you  look  at  him — erect,  noble,  and  un- 
flinching— you  see  that  he  is  one  who  loves,  and  is  beloved,  and 
also  one  who  is  powerful  in  antagonism,  and  omnipotent  in  effort. 
You  see  strength  of  the  physical,  of  the  mental,  and  of  the  moral ; 
and  you  see,  likewise,  tenderness,  goodness,  and  simplicity,  as  strong 
parts  of  the  same  nature. 

He  is  an  eloquent  and  convincing  preacher.  Emphatic  in  his 
mode  of  expression,  he  is  learned  in  argument,  devout  in  manner, 
and  impassioned  in  utterance.  He  commands  the  attention  of  the 
hearer  throughout,  and  at  the  close,  leaves  the  mind  employed  with 
profitable  thoughts,  and  the  heart  moved  by  penitential  emotions. 

530 


IIIGHT  HEY.  BISHOP  HORATIO  SOUTHGATE,  D.  D., 

LA.TJE     XilJCrrOK,    OF    ZIOIV    EI»ISCOI»jVIL.     CHXJItCH, 


EV.  DR  HORATIO  SOUTHGATE  was  born  in  the  city 
.of  Portland,  Me.  He  was  graduated  at  Bowdoiii  College 
in  1832,  and  at  Andover  in  1835.  Though  brought  up  a 
strict  Congregational ist,  he  became  an  Episcopalian  while 
I'suing  his  theological  studies  at  the  latter  institution.  He 
was  ordained  deacon  in  1835,  and  priest  in  1839.  During  1836 
he  went  abroad,  and  traveled  extensively  in  Turkey  and  Persia. 
Returning  to  the  United  States,  he  was  consecrated  in  Philadelphia^ 
Oct.  26th,  1844,  missionary  bishop  to  reside  at  Constantinople,  and 
again  took  his  departure  for  the  East.  This  mission  was  primarily 
to  send  a  delegate  charged  with  messages  of  good  will  to  the  Oriental 
churches.  After  several  years  spent  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  his  mission  and  in  travel,  Dr.  Southgate  returned  to  the  United 
States  in  1849.  He  then  founded  the  parish  of  St.  Luke,  in  Portland, 
where  he  remained  about  a  year ;  in  1852  went  to  the  church  of  the 
Advent,  Boston ;  and  in  1859  was  called  to  Zion  Church,  New  York. 
He  resigned  this  parish  in  1872,  after  the  efficient  labors  of  thirteen 
years.  Zion  Church  was  formerly  in  Mott  street,  and  the  congrega- 
tion at  an  early  period  was  Lutheran,  but,  by  a  change  in  the  relig- 
ious views  of  both  pastor  and  people,  became  an  Episcopal  church  in 
1810.  In  1854  a  very  fine  edifice  was  erected  on  the  corner  of 
Madison  avenue  and  Thirty-eighth  street,  which  is  the  crown  of 
Murray  Hill.  Dr.  Southgate  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity 
from  Columbia  College,  in  1846.  He  has  published  the  following 
works:  "Tours  through  Armenia,  Kurdistan,  Persia,  and  Messopo- 
tamia,"  two  volumes,  in  1840 ;  "  Visit  to  the  Syrian  Church  of 
Messopotamia,"  one  volume,  in  1844;  "Parochial  Sermons,"  one 
volume,  and  "  War  in  the  East,"  one  volume,  in  1856.  He  has  like- 
wise published  various  occasional  sermons,  and  contributed  largely 
to  the  religious  reviews  and  journals.     He  speaks  the  Turkish,  Ger- 

531 


BISHOP     HORATIO     SOUTHGATE,     D.  D. 

man,  Italian,  and  French  languages.  The  volume  entitled  "War  in 
the  East."  is  a  masterly  review  of  the  questions  involved  in  the 
Russian  and  Turkish  war,  defensive  of  the  position  of  the  former 
power.  It  was  extensively  circulated  both  in  this  country  and 
Europe,  and  quoted  in  Parliament,  by   Earl  Grey,  as  unanswerable. 

Dr.  Southgate  is  under  the  medium  height,  rather  thick  set  and 
large  boned.  His  head  is  large,  with  a  square  face  and  prominent 
features  His  eyes  are  bright,  quick,  and  penetrating,  and  at  the 
same  time  like  his  whole  expression,  gentle  and  kindly.  He  is  the 
exact  impersonation  of  the  honest,  true-hearted,  fair  dealing-man. 
There  is  no  circumlocution,  no  scheming,  and  no  policy  about  him. 
His  impulses  are  as  surely  and  instantly  toward  honesty,  truth,  and 
justice,  as  the  direction  of  the  magnetic  needle.  This  fact  speaks 
out  from  every  line  of  his  countenance,  and  is  breathed  in  every 
sentiment  tliat  he  utters.  His  perceptions  of  character  are  the  keen- 
est, but  he  turns  to  every  man — be  he  saint  or  sinner,  of  spotless 
virtue  or  black  with  crime — the  front  of  an  honest  face  and  a  just 
nature.  He  is  genial,  cheerful,  and  has  a  happy  power  of  communi- 
cating his  own  natural  buoy^ancy  of  spirits  to  others.  In  the  sick 
chamber,  in  the  house  of  mourning,  with  the  anxious  inquirer,  he 
exercises,  in  an  eminent  degree,  that  holy  influence  which  merges 
grief  and  desolation  into  submission  and  faith. 

Dr.  Southgate  is  a  hard  worker  in  every  sphere  of  duty.  His 
reliance  on  a  favoring  Providence  is  complete,  and  he  keeps  onward 
when  others  check  their  steps  in  despair.  No  better  qualified  man 
cojild  have  been  sent  as  a  representative  to  the  Oriental  churches. 
He  did  not  go  to  displaj  the  prejudices  of  sectarianism,  but  as  an 
ambassador  of  good-will  to  all  the  Christian  sects  of  the  East.  And 
thus,  with  the  simple  credentials  of  a  Christian  man,  though  a  con- 
secrated bishop,  he  mingled  in  beneficial  fellowship  with  Syrian, 
Romish,  Greek,  and  Protestant  He  was  a  Christian  friend  ti-om 
afar,  full  of  brotherly  love,  earnest  in  the  common  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity, and,  personally,  a  genial,  noble-hearted  gentleme!i.  Hence 
we  find  him,  in  1841,  while  on  a  visit  to  the  Syrian  patriarch,  at  his 
monastery  on  the  confines  of  Messopotamia,  solicited  to  afibrd  assis- 
tance in  a  controversy  regarding  certain  church  property  then  pend- 
ing at  Constantinople  before  tlie  Porte.  His  mission  was  everywhere 
appreciated,  and  without  for  a  moment  exciting  prejudice  or  sus- 
picion, he  strengthened  the  bonds  of  the  true  Christianity,  which  is 
universal  brotherhood.  532 


mV.  SAMUEL  T.  SPEAR,    D.D., 

OWE    OF    THE     EDITORS    OF"     THE    IIVr>I3P»EN- 

r>E]VT,  ivETV  yokk:. 


EV.  DR.  SAMUEL  T.  SPEAR  was  born  at  Ballston 
Spa,  New  York,  March  4th,  1812.  He  was  graduated  as 
a  doctor  of  medicine  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  New  York,  and  studied  theology  with  Rev, 
Dr.  Beman,  of  Troy.  He  was  ordained  as  a  Presbyterian  min- 
•^  ister  in  ]835,  and  settled  during  the  same  year  as  pastor  of 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Lansingburg.  In  1843  he  accepted 
a  call  to  the  South  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn,  where  he  re- 
mained about  twenty-seven  years.  During  the  time  he  declined  a 
call  to  one  of  the  leading  Presbyterian  churches  of  Albany ;  but 
recently  accepted  an  invitation  to  become  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Independent,  a  well  known  religious  paper  of  New  York,  He  had 
been  a  constant  contributor  to  the  paper,  from  its  commencement. 
All  his  writings  are  thoughtful  and  valuable.  His  degree  of  D,  D, 
was  conferred  by  Union  College,  Schenectady. 

He  has  published  a  bound  volume,  entitled  '*  Family  Power," 
and  the  following  sermons  :  "  The  Drunkard's  Appetite,"  "  Law  and 
Temperance,"  "Politico-social  Foundations,"  "Law-abiding  and 
Higherdaw  Conscience,"  "  Conquest  of  the  World  by  Faith,"  "  The 
Law  of  Grace,"  "  Christ  in  the  Believer,"  "  Religious  Conversation," 
"  The  Future  of  Christianity,"  "Radicalism  and  the  National  Crisis," 
"  The  Future  Life  Suggested,"  "  The  Wonder  of  Man's  Constitution," 
"  Obedience  to  Civil  Authority,"  "  Constitutional  Government 
Against  Treason,"  "  The  Retributive  Power  of  Memory,"  "  The 
Divine  Licarnation,"  "  Man  Mortal  and  Transient,"  "The  Nation's 
Blessing  in  Trial,"  "The  Duty  of  the  Hour,"  "  Christian  Democracy," 
and  "  Preaching  the  Gospel,"  He  is  the  author  of  the  following  re- 
views and  essays,  which  have  appeared  in  the  Biblical  Repository  ; 
"  Review  of  Edwards  on  Liberty  and  Necessity,"  "  Review  of  Bush 
on  the  Resurrection,"  "Review  of  Cheeseman's  Differences,"  "The 

533 


REV.     SAMUEL     T.     SPEAR,     D.  D. 

Eejection   of  Christ  by   the  Jews,"  "  The  Death  of  Christ,"  "  The 
Atonement  and  Penalty  of  the  Law." 

r>r.  Spear  is  under  the  medium  height,  having  a  small  but  com- 
pact frame.  He  is  an  old-fashioned  looking  person,  whose  clothes 
never  seem  to  fit  him.  He  walks  with  a  firm,  deliberate  step,  carry- 
ing his  head  erect,  and  has  a  bland  expression  of  face.  His  head  is 
of  the  round  apple-like  kind,  but  his  brow  is  finely  developed,  and 
he  has  bright,  speaking  eyes.  While  he  is  courteous  in  his  manners 
and  aifable  in  conversation,  still  there  is  a  measure  of  reserve  about 
him.  He  never  for  a  moment  lays  aside  his  clerical  character,  and 
in  all  his  social  life  exhibits  much  seriousness  and  reflection.  No 
one  can  doubt  his  eminent  piety,  his  earnest  desire  to  be  practically 
useful  in  his  sphere,  and  his  conscientiousness  of  word  and  deed.  Al- 
ways calm,  thoughtful,  and  wise,  he  is  a  safe  guide  to  all  who  seek 
his  counsel,  and  he  is  ever  found  changeless  in  principle  and  faithful 
to  duty.  His  mind  is  deeply  philosophical.  He  is  a  reader  of  large 
research,  and  altogether  a  most  laborious  student.  He  abominates 
superficiality  in  anything,  and  hence  his  own  investigations  are  of 
the  most  thorough  nature.  In  his  writings,  so  careful  and  precise  is 
he,  that  he  sometimes  grows  tedious,  and  he  is  always  thus  in  his 
sermons  to  those  who  delight  in  imagination  and  declamation.  He 
writes  and  speaks  with  occcasional  bursts  of  emotion,  but  he  is 
mostly  argumentative  and  unimpassioned.  Doctrinal  subjects,  and 
themes  requiring  the  wider  scope  of  reasoning,  are  favorites  with 
him.  His  student  hours  are  passed  in  much  seclusion,  and  with  en- 
tire abandonment  of  mind  to  the  matter  under  investigation.  His 
process  of  thought  is  slow,  and  from  this  fact  probably  the  more 
logical. 

Dr.  Spear  is  not,  however,  a  man  to  move  the  masses  as  a  preacher. 
In  the  course  of  long  years  he  trains  a  congregation  to  his  own  way 
and  mode  of  thinking,  and  he  draws  about  him  circles  of  methodical 
reasoners  like  himself,  but  he  never  reaches  the  popular  heart.  He 
is  too  cold,  too  logically  dry,  and  too  philosophically  tedious,  to 
touch  the  chords  of  sympathetic  feeling,  and  at  the  same  time  all  of 
these  aid  him  in  establishing  the  most  positive  conviction  with  the 
cold,  logical,  and  philosophical  few.  With  those  who  are  attached 
to  his  style  of  thought,  his  sermons  are  regarded  as  the  consumma' 
tion  of  brilliant  scholarship  and  mental  power, 

534 


!»'*' 


(^viiHCi   "U hwi^ip 


REY.  GARDINER  SPRING,  D.D.,LLD., 


EV.  DR.  GARDINER  SPRINa  has  been  the  pastor 
of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York,  for  the  long 
period  of  sixty-three  years.  The  time  for  active  service 
with  him  has  now  passed  ;  but  he  still  retains  his  cher- 
ished pastoral  relations  with  his  people,  having  an  assistant 
Dr.  Spring  is  the  only  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Spring,  who 
was  a  chaplain  in  the  American  arm}^  during  the  Revolution,  and  a 
theologian  of  great  influence  and  weight  of  character.  He  gi-aduated 
at  Yale  College  in  1805,  and  subsequently  commenced  the  study  of 
the  law.  He  next  went  to  the  island  of  Bermuda,  as  a  teacher, 
where  he  remained  nearly  two  years,  continuing  his  legal  studies, 
however.  After  his  return  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  prac- 
ticed more  than  a  year.  His  attention  had  been  long  turned  to  reli- 
gious subjects,  and  he  now  began  to  prepare  himself  for  the  ministry. 
He  studied  about  eight  months  at  Andover  Seminary.  On  the  10th 
of  August,  1810,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church,  and 
has  remained  such  up  to  the  present  time. 

The  Brick  Church  formerlj^  occupied  the  triangular  lot  of  ground 
bounded  by  Nassau  and  Beekman  streets  and  Park  Row,  now  the  site 
of  the  Times  and  other  buildings.  This  lot  was  obtained  from  the 
corporation  by  the  Wall  street  Presbyterian  Congregation — the  first 
organization  of  the  sect  in  New  York — and  a  church  erected  upon 
it,  which  was  dedicated  in  January,  1768.  During  the  Revolution 
the  building  was  used  by  the  British  as  a  prison  and  hospital  for 
prisoners  of  war.  The  church  was  re-opened  in  June,  1784.  Various 
other  leading  Presbyterian  Congregations  of  the  city  grew  out  of  the 
First  and  Brick  Churches.  At  a  later  period  a  separation  of  these 
churches  was  effected  by  mutual  consent. 

The  property  was  sold  by  the  congregation  after  long  occupancy 

for  a  large  sum,  and  a  purchase  made  of  lots  on  the  corner  of  Fifth 

535 


REV.      GARDINER     SPRING,     D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

avenue  and  37th  street,  where  one  of  the  most  magnificent  and  spa- 
cious church  edifices  of  the  city  was  erected.  The  congregation  is 
Large  and  very  wealthy.  Eev.  Dr.  J.  0.  Murray  is  the  assistant 
minister. 

Dr.  Spring  has  successively  declined  the  presidency  of  Hamilton 
and  Dartmouth  Colleges.  Among  his  public  books  may  be  men- 
tioned "Memoirs  of  Rev.  J.  Mills,"  "Memoirs  of  Hannah  L.  Mur- 
ray," "  The  Mercy  Seat,"  "  First  Things,"  "  The  Glory  of  Christ," 
"Contrast  between  Good  and  Bad  Men,"  collections  of  his  sermons, 
etc.,  etc. 

Dr.  Spring  is  tall  and  broad-shouldered,  and  even  in  his  old  age 
is  perfectly  erect.  He  is  now  feeble,  and  his  sight  is  much  im- 
paired, but  his  presence  is  commanding  and  dignified  to  the  highest 
degree.  He  has  a  large,  intellectual  head,  and  a  most  benevolent 
countenance.  His  manners  have  always  had  the  characteristics  of  a 
high-toned  polish  and  courtliness  combined  with  marked  geniality 
and  the  utmost  gentleness. 

"We  wrote  the  following  description  of  Dr.  Spring  at  the  period 
when  he  was  approaching  the  close  of  his  active  ministry : 

"  But  observe  :  a  tall,  broad-shouldered  old  man  enters  the  pulpit. 
He  is  feeble,  and  his  sight  is  impaired ;  but  he  stands  erect  and  tower- 
ing in  stature.  His  face  is  kind  in  its  expression,  and  his  bold  brow 
is  the  throne  of  intellect.  In  prayer  his  eyes  are  closed,  his  head 
elevated,  and  in  the  strength  of  his  feelings  he  raises  yet  more  his  tall 
form,  and  lifts  his  hands  on  high,  as  if  he  would  lay  hold  of  God's 
throne  then  and  there.  With  his  people  he  stands  a  saint  before 
them  ;  these  old  men  he  baptized,  these  women  he  married,  and  to-day 
he  performs  the  same  offices  for  new  generations.  As  he  speaks  in 
tones  earnest  but  mellow,  every  feeling  of  the  worshipers  sink  away 
into  the  devotion  to  which  his  language  invites  them.  The  world 
without,  and  even  the  memory  of  the  music,  which  a  few  moments 
before  was  floating  so  impressively,  each  and  all  have  faded  into 
visions  painted  in  prayer.  Age  is  surely  doing  its  work  with  the  pas- 
tor. The  light  of  day  is  growing  into  dimness,  the  step  is  becoming 
more  and  more  feeble ;  and  yet,  this  little  span  of  remaining  life,  this 
tottering  man  is  the  very  footstool  of  God,  where  age  and  youth, 
where  beauty  and  deformity  approach  with  their  offerings  of  faith. 
When  this  span  shall  have  been  completed — when  he  falls,  overcome 
by  the  weight  of  years,  there  will  be  no  voice  like  his  forever. 

536 


RET.     GAEDINER     SPRING,     D,  D.,  LL.  D. 

"  Dr.  Sj)ring  is  a  learned  man,  and  a  rare  expounder  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  arrangement  of  his  sermons  is  logical  in  the  extreme, 
and  belonging,  as  he  does,  to  the  old  order  of  preachers,  thej  are 
generally  of  a  doctiinal  character.  His  language  is  well  chosen,  vig- 
orous, and  at  times  glowing  and  eloquent.  His  magnificent  physical 
proportions  give  great  effect  to  his  utterances,  accompanied  as  they 
are  by  well-studied  gestures.  He  is  of  the  old  school  branch  of  his 
church,  and  the  opponent  of  all  heresies,  as  well  as  any  deviation  in 
whatsoever  form  from  the  ancient  doctrines  and  practices  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  regard  to  doctrine,  he  does  not  think  that 
there  is  any  argument  at  all  for  the  other  champions.  The  only 
reason  why  he  doubts  the  efficiency  of  intelligence  is  that  it  does  not 
make  all  men  Presbyterians ;  but  if  any  person  is  disposed  to  i-aise 
issues  with  him,  his  eye  kindles,  he  wai-ms  up,  and  aftbrds  an 
amount  of  logical  lore  which  may  well  embarrass  the  most  learned. 

"  He  is  a  close  student  of  human  nature,  and  from  this  fact  has 
come  much  of  his  success  in  the  ministry.  He  measures  the  mind, 
gauges  the  temperament,  and  weighs  the  character  of  all  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact,  and  successfully  uses  a  happy  adaptability  to 
persons  and  circumstances  which  he  can  readily  exercise.  He  is 
not  the  same  man  to  the  old  that  he  is  to  the  young,  nor  is  he  as 
stem  and  fixed  with  the  merely  giddy  as  he  is  with  the  unmistakably 
bad.  But  in  all  his  moods,  he  seeks  to  gain  control  of  the  mind  of 
the  individual,  and  he  is  well  aware  that  the  means  of  so  doing 
must  be  adapted  to  the  case;  hence,  those  who  resist  his  influence 
are  eventually  drawn  by  it,  and  by  a  means  so  adroit  that  resistance 
changes  unconsciously  into  submission. 

"  Eising  at  the  close  of  his  sermon  to  a  loflier  flight  of  eloquence, 
speaking  in  the  tones  of  persuasion,  and  under  the  solemn  obliga- 
tions of  duty,  his  voice  grows  louder  and  richer,  and  seems  to  many 
before  him  truly  the  flickering  candle  burning  up  brighter  before  it 
shall  go  out  at  last  Every  eye  is  riveted  upon  him ;  every  ear 
intently  listens ;  every  heart  is  moved  with  love.  Grandly,  thril- 
lingly  he  glides  from  sentence  to  sentence,  and  when  he  ceases  there 
is  a  -stillness  eveiywhere  save  in  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  where  his 
words  are  sweeping  like  music  from  above. 

"The  grand  organ  swells  again,  and  the  choral  strains  join  in  the 
sacred  harmony,  and  then  comes  the  touching  blessing  of  the  gray- 
haired  shepherd.     The  elders — so  prim,  so  genteel,  so  distinguished 

— take  their  hats,  the  silks  rustle  once  more,  the  aisles  overflow, 

537 


REV.      GARDINER     SPRING,     D.  D,,  LL.  D. 

friends  nod,  and  the  concourse  of  favored  Cbristians  descend  to 
their  carriages,  or  slowly  pace  their  waj  to  their  palatial  homes. 
Last  of  the  throng  leaving  the  church,  notice  the  pastor;  he  is  still 
erect  in  carriage,  his  face  is  uplifted,  and  about  it  play  the  smiles  of 
a  peaceful  soul  within. 

"The  sum  of  the  usefulness  of  this  eminent  and  godly  man  can 
only  be  calculated  when  the  Master  shall  take  the  final  account 
But  among  his  fellow-men,  his  long  life  is  esteemed  a  brilliant 
example  for  all  seeking  honor  here  and  rest  hereafter." 

538 


^^'^         ■'^^Z^-L-.S, 


REV.  RICHARD  S.  STORRS,  D.  D., 

F»A.lSTOK    OF     THi:    CHXJUCH    OF     THE    T»II-.OItIM:S, 

JSPtOOI*.  iL<Y]N". 


lEV.  1)R  EICHARD  S.  STORES,  was  bora  at  Braintree, 
Massachusetts,  August  21st,  1821.  He  was  graduated 
at  Amherst  College  in  1839,  and  completed  bis  studies 
%)-^^  at    x^ndover   Theological    Seminary   in    18-45.      At  the 

^W  outset  of  his  career  he  gave  brilliant  promise  of  his  future 
greatness.  His  mind,  and  indeed  his  whole  character,  were  of  a 
stamp  which  proved  him  to  be  a  man  who  was  to  make  his  mark  in 
the  intellectual  world.  In  1845  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Harvard 
Congregational  Church  at  Brookliue,  Massachusetts,  but  in  the  year 
following  was  called  to  the  Church  of  the  Pilgrims,  Brooklyn,  New 
York. 

This  church  was  the  pioneer  of  the  Congregational  churches  of 
Brooklyn.  The  natives  of  New  England,  who  sought  that  place  in 
such  large  numbers,  brought  Congregationalism  with  them,  and  soon 
gave  complexion  to  the  moral  and  religious  character  of  the  beauti- 
ful city  in  which  they  took  up  their  residence.  The  first  evidence 
of  their  religious  zeal  was  the  erection  on  the  Heights  of  an  impos- 
ing stone  church  edifice,  exceeding  at  the  time  every  other  structure 
of  the  kind  in  Brooklyn. 

In  the  front  wall  of  the  Church  may  be  seen  a  piece  of  the  verit- 
able Plymouth  Rock. 

Dr.  Storrs  was  called,  and  the  New  Englanders  found  not  only  an 
altar  afi'ording  their  own  popular  form  of  worship,  but  a  pastor  of 
the  most  commanding  talents.  He  drew  about  him  a  large,  wealthy, 
and  intelligent  congregation,  and  has  now  been  their  accepted  pastor 
for  twenty-seven  3^ ears. 

A  few  years  since  the  interior  of  the  Church  was  magnificently 

improved,  making  it  a  rare  specimen  of  artistic  taste  and  beauty 

Dr.  Storrs  has  recentlv  returned  from  an  extensive  tour  in  Europe 

539 


REV.     RICHARD     S.      STORRS,     D.  D. 

His   congregation   extended  to  him   a  public   i-eception,  which   was 
marked  by  great  warmth  of  feeling. 

Dr.  Storrs  is  not  without  reputation  in  the  walks  of  literature. 
When  the  Indejyendcnt  was  started,  in  1848,  he  became  one  of  the 
associate  editoi's,  and  his  articles  were  characterized  by  a  polish  of 
diction  and  comprehensiveness  of  expression  which  are  peculiarities 
of  his  style.  He  has  also  published  a  number  of  sermons,  orations, 
and  addresses,  a  very  elaborate  report  of  the  revision  of  the  English 
version  of  the  Bible,  undertaken  by  the  American  Bible  Society,  and 
a  vokime  of  "Graham's  Lectures  on  the  Wisdom,  Power,  and  Good- 
ness of  God,  as  Manifested  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Human  Soul," 
etc.,  etc. 

His  mind  is  one  of  large  comprehension,  and  his  studies  are  dili- 
gent, so  that  he  becomes  a  thorough  master  of  every  subject  with 
which  he  deals.  He  writes  with  evident  care,  and  in  the  well-select- 
ed terms  of  a  highly  cultivated  literary  tas  e.  He  has  been  success- 
ful as  an  editor,  and  discusses  the  occurring  religious  and  secular 
topics  with  readine.-s  and  skill.  In  his  sennons  he  is  scholarly  and 
eloquent  As  compositions  they  are  replete  with  merit,  and  many  of 
them  should  be  classed  as  magnificent  orations.  The  historical  and 
other  facts  are  introduced  in  a  most  pleasing  and  interesting  form, 
and  where  he  indulges  in  fancy  it  is  not  only  truly  poetic,  but  both 
original  and  sensible. 

Dr.  Storrs  has  always  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  educational 
movements  of  Brooklyn,  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  establish- 
ment and  success  of  the  Brooklyn  Female  Academy,  now  the 
Packer  Institute,  and  in  the  school  established  by  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Alonzo  Gray  on  the  Heights. 

As  a  preacher  Dr.  Storrs  has  some  striking  peculiarities.  Of 
late  most  of  his  sennons  are  extemporaneously  delivered,  though 
the  preparation  is  always  studious  and  thorough.  His  appearance  is 
most  dignified  and  solemn,  and  his  delivery  is  slow,  emphatic,  and 
impressive.  In  every  attitude  and  in  every  tone,  he  is  the  imperso- 
nation of  not  only  the  man  of  intellectual  power,  but  the  man  of 
God.  He  rivets  the  eye  and  he  appeals  to  the  sensibilities  in  the 
same  instant  The  magnetic  influence  which  goes  out  from  the 
great  intelligence,  and  the  pure  character  of  one  man  to  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  other  men,  is  instantly  felt  by  those  who  come  into  the 
presence  of  this  admired  preacher.  His  voice  is  strong  but  beauti- 
r^ially  modulated,  and  highly  sensitive  to  the  emotions.     Decided  and 

640 


REV.      RICHARD     S.     STORES,     D.  D. 

smphatic  in  all  ■utterances  of  fact  and  opinion,  showing  a  most 
thorough  scholarship  in  both  theology  and  literature,  these  sermons 
are  also  most  touching  exi)ressions  of  Christian  sentiment.  If  the 
liearer  desires  to  listen  to  the  most  polished  diction,  to  original  and 
great  thoughts  of  a  scholarly  as  well  as  practical  mind  he  will  be  fully 
gratified ;  but  in  no  case,  should  he  be  seeking  the  way  of  eternal 
life,  will  he  fail  to  be  told  the  path  to  it.  Thus,  while  scholarship 
and  oratory  are  attractive  features  of  the  ministi'ations  of  Dr.  Storrs, 
it  is  all  made  subservient  to  his  greater  aim  of  the  regeneration  of  liia 
fellow-men.  While  vou  shall  go  away  from  the  service  pleased  and 
instructed,  you  will  likewise  feel  stronger  in  virtue  and  in  faith,  for 
the  temptations  and  sorrows  of  the  world. 

Dr.  Storrs  is  of  large,  tall,  stately  person,  and  in  the  prime  and  vigor 
of  manhood.  His  complexion  is  light,  and  he  has  brown  hair. 
There  is  a  resolute  expression  about  his  mouth,  and  his  glance, 
though  mild,  is  very  searching.  Still,  his  face  is  very  interesting 
from  its  characteristics  of  intelligence  and  goodness.  In  all  intei"- 
course  he  is  dignified,  and  studiously  polite.  His  disposition,  man- 
ners, and  habits,  have  all  been  formed  and  schooled  in  the  inflexible 
purpose,  the  stern  dignity,  and  the  rigid  method  of  Puritanism.  The 
forefethers  of  New  England  are  his  models  of  all  excellence,  as  well 
in  personal  deportment  as  in  morals  and  religious  sentiment.  Look- 
ing at  individual  character  in  this  land,  and  in  the  many  he  has 
visited,  he  seems  to  turn  with  satisfaction  to  the  Puritan  type  as  the 
one  best  sustaining  the  true  nobility  in  man's  nature. 

Without  belonging  exactly  to  the  sensational  preachers  of  the 
day,  Dr.  Storrs  by  no  means  keeps  aloof  from  the  agitation  of  secular 
topics  in  the  pulpit.  As  a  war  man,  an  abolitionist  and  emancipa- 
tionist, and  a  moral  reformer,  he  has  been  among  the  boldest,  ablest, 
and  most  earnest.  With  the  zeal  and  resolution  in  upholding  what 
he  believes  to  be  the  right  inborn  to  him  from  his  ancestry,  he  is  a 
champion  who  generallj-  bears  the  banner  of  victory. 

His  varied  learning  eminently  fits  him  for  all  the  departments  in 
which  he  energetically  exerts  himself  As  a  clergyman,  scholar, 
teacher,  and  citizen,  he  has  secured  an  exalted  reputation,  which  is 
increased  by  his  successful  labors  in  every  new  field  of  duty.  A 
representative  of  the  most  advanced  culture  of  the  American  pulpit, 
he  is  equally  an  example  of  the  stern  and  higher  vii'tues,  which  are 
at  once  the  strength  and  safety  of  society. 

541 


REV.  THOMAS   STREET,  A.  M., 

I«A.TE    PA.STOII    OI?    THE    IVORTXI    PltESliYTEr 
KIJLIV     CIIXJK-CH. 


|EV.  THOMAS  STREET  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  May 
8th,  1823.  He  pursued  his  academic  and  theological 
studies  at  the  Pennington  Seminary,  at  Pennington,  New 
Jersey,  a  Methodist  institution,  leaving  in  1845.  He  was 
licensed  in  the  same  year  by  the  New  Jersey  Conference. 
In  1846  he  was  stationed  at  Winslow,  New  Jersey;  1847  at 
Princeton  ;  and  in  1848  he  was  transferred  to  the  New  England 
Conference,  passing  1848^9  at  Danvers,  Massachusetts,  and  1850-51 
in  Boston.  Having  become  Secretary  of  tlie  American  Sunday  School 
Union,  in  1852,  he  united  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  joined 
the  Presbytery  of  Columbia,  New  York.  He  remained  in  the  Sun- 
day School  work  until  1855,  and  then  accepted  a  call  to  the  Grreen 
Hill  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia,  in  connection  with  the  Third 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  where  he  remained  until  1860.  After 
this  he  went  to  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Harrisburg,  and  then 
to  another  at  York,  where  he  continued  until  he  accepted  the  charge 
of  the  North  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York,  in  association  with 
the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York,  where  he  commenced  his  labors 
May  1st,  1864. 

Mr,  Street  labored  acceptably  in  this  field  until  May  1st,  1873,  a 
period  of  nine  years.  Through  his  personal  efforts  a  debt  of  thirty 
thousand  dollars  on  the  church  was  paid  off.  He  next  accepted  a 
call  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cortland,  New  York,  where  he 
is  now  engaged  in  a  most  popular  and  efficient  ministry. 

He  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Princeton  College  in  1857. 
It  may  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  Street  has  considerable  talent  in 
painting,  as  is  sliown  by  many  fine  specimens  of  his  work,  which 
adorn  the  walls  of  his  dwelling. 

642 


REV.     THOMAS    STREET,    A.M. 

Mr.  Street  is  of  the  average  height,  equal  proporticjns,  and  in 
his  firm,  quick  step  shows  an  active,  vigorous  manhood.  He  has 
a  round  head,  and  regular  features.  His  face  has  considerable  re- 
flectiveness about  it,  and  not  a  little  amiability,  and  it  has  also  the 
tokens  of  a  great  deal  of  penetration  and  firmness.  He  is  a  very 
courteous,  genial  man,  and  one  of  great  aptness  in  suiting  himself  to 
the  persons  and  circumstances  in  which  he  may  be  placed.  At  the 
first  glance  he  seems  a  rather  passive  sort  of  person,  who  would  float 
along  in  opinion  and  action  with  other  men  from  the  sheer  spirit 
of  accommodation  and  good  nature ;  but  he  is  not  in  this  respect 
exactly  what  he  appears.  He  is  really  a  man  of  a  large  amount  of 
force  of  character,  and,  however  far  amiability  may  carry  him,  you 
at  lengtli  find  that  he  is  neither  to  be  molded  nor  led.  He  has  a 
calm,  reasonable,  generous  spirit,  but  he  is  not  less  conscientious  and 
resolute.  The  truest  specimen  of  a  gentleman,  he  is  likewise  the 
best  example^of  the  man.  Modest  in  his  bearing,  unobtrusive  in 
his  opinions,  gentle  and  considerate  in  his  expressions  in  the  first 
relation,  he  exhibits  the  clearest  sense  of  all  the  requirements  which 
belong  to  the  other.  Uprightness,  firmness  in  duty,  and  boldness, 
especially  for  virtue,  truth,  and  the  gospel  he  preaches,  are  character- 
istics which  underlie  and  overrule  his  whole  bein";.  The  strousr 
points  of  his  character  do  not  appear  so  quickly  and  so  pi'ominently 
as  in  some  men,  but  those  we  have  mentioned  could  not  be  moi-e  fixed 
and  dominant  in  any  one. 

Mr.  Street  makes  no  display  in  his  preaching,  but  succeeds  in 
commanding  very  close  attention.  Without  being  a  terse  writer, 
he  is  a  forcible  thinker,  and  expresses  himself  in  language  of  lilre 
character.  The  subject  is  always  discussed  with  animation,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  his  own  interest  and  sincerity.  His 
training  in  the  Methodist  pulpit  is  still  apparent.  He  is  very  emo- 
tional, and  his  most  powerful  passages  are  where  he  addresses  his 
appeal  more  directly  to  the  heart.  The  cold,  formal  public  speaker 
may  reach  the  understanding,  but  he  who  would  reach  the  feelings 
must  first  feel  himself.  And  herein  Mr.  Street  is  never  lacking. 
Human  sympathies  and  Christian  tenderness  enter  largely  into  his 
own  nature,  and  his  heart  is  ever  tenderly  inclined  to  others.  He 
has  an  agreeable,  mellow-toned  voice,  well  suited  for  the  pathos  in 
which  he  indulges. 

513 


REV.   PETER   STRIKER,   D.  D., 

I.*A.TE    I»j\.©TOK,    OF    THIRTY-FOXJKTU     ©TKEEET 
IlEFOIlM:Er>    DUTCH    CHURCH:,  :iVETV   yOKIC. 


lEV.  DR.  PETER  STRYKER  was  born  at  Fairfield,  New 
Jersey,  April  8th,  1826.  He  is  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Her- 
man B.  Stryker,  who,  even  at  the  advanced  age  of  seven- 
f^  VS"  ty-three,  was  active  and  efficient  in  the  pastorship  of  the 
Huguenot  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  on  Staten  Island.  His 
grandfather,  the  Rev.  Peter  Stryker  (after  whom  he  is  named), 
was  for  many  years  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Belleville, 
N.  J.,  died  in  1847,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty -three  years.  The 
Stryker  family  came  originally  from  Holland.  The  name  is  prop- 
erly Strijcker,  which  means  a  smoother,  or  stroker,  referring  to  the 
striking  off  of  measures  of  wheat,  etc.  It  is  a  very  common  name 
in  the  old  country.  A  most  popular  preacher,  now  in  Rotterdam 
has  this  name.  In  Motley's  History  of  the  "Dutch  Republic,"  it  is 
stated  that  in  1562,  Herman  Stryker,  a  converted  monk,  was  one  of 
the  most  popular  preachers  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland. 

Dr.  Stryker  entered  tlie  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1841,  and 
passed  two  years  there.  Subsequently  he  entered  Rutgers  College, 
New  Brunswick,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1845,  and  took  his  theo- 
logical course  at  the  Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at 
the  same  place,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1848.  He  was  ordained 
and  installed  pastor  of  the  Third  Reformed  Dutch  Church  atRaritan, 
New  Jersey,  October  18th,  1848.  Three  years  later,  in  the  autumn  of 
1851,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  Rhine- 
beck,  Dutchess  county,  New  York,  one  of  the  most  influential 
churches  of  the  denomination.  Having  accepted  a  call  to  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Clmrch  on  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Greene  streets, 
New  York,  he  entered  upon  his  duties  in  May,  1856.  and  was  in- 
stalled on  the  1st  of  June  following. 

This  congregation  grew  out  of  a  missionary  enterprise  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  denomination,  organized  January  9th,  1822.     It  was  the 

541 


REV.     PETER     STRYKER,     D.  D. 

desire  of  the  society  to  establish  preacliing  near  the  corner  of  Canal 
street  and  Broadway,  "a  part  of  the  city  then  growing  ra^pidly,"  but 
no  suitable  room  could  be  procured,  and  the  locality  was  changed 
to  the  junction  of  Howard  and  Elm  streets,  where  a  room  was  ob- 
tained. Eev.  Robert  j\IcLean  was  the  first  mission;iry.  The  enter- 
prise prospered,  and  arrangements  were  made  to  build  a  church 
edifice  on  a  site  corner  of  Broome  and  Greene  streets.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  in  June,  1823.  In  the  month  of  October  following, 
service  was  commenced  in  the  basement.  On  February  8th,  1824, 
the  cliurch  was  dedicated,  and  in  a  few  years  had  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  influential  congregations  of  the  city.  The  whole  cost  of 
\r's  and  building  was  $16,200.  A  debt  of  $7,000  wr.s  paid  off  in 
three  or  four  years.  The  congregation  was  formally  organized  in 
December,  1823,  and  Mr.  McLean  was  called  as  the  first  pastor  in 
the  following  year.  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob  Brodhead  was  the  pastor  from 
1826  to  1837;  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  A.  Van  Yranken  from  1837  to 
1841  ;  Rev.  Dr.  George  Fisher  from  1841  to  1854,  and  Rev.  Henry 
V.  Vorhees  from  May  to  December,  1855,  who  resigned  by  reason 
of  ill  health.     In  April  Dr.  Stryker  was  called. 

In  1859  a  debt  had  accumulated  of  $17,000,  and  the  congregation 
was  greatly  reduced  in  numbers  by  the  removal  up-town  of  its  mem- 
bers. In  May,  1859,  a  union  was  effected  with  the  Livingston  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church,  worshipping  in  a  hall  on  the  corner  of  Thirty- 
third  street  and  Eighth  avenue,  where  services  were  continued. 
Meanwhile  the  down-town  property  was  sold,  and  eligible  building 
lots  purchased  in  Thirty-fourth  street.  The  last  service  took  place 
in  the  old  church  April  15th,  1860,  when  Dr.  Stryker  preached  an 
appropriate  discourse.  In  a  period  of  between  thirty-six  and  thirty- 
seven  years,  488  marriages  were  solemnized,  557  infants  baptized, 
and  1,204  members  admitted. 

A  fine  church  building  was  erected  on  Thirty-fourth  street,  and 
dedicated  March  3d,  1861.  The  cost  was  some  $60,000.  A  debt 
of  $35,000  which  remained  was  liquidated  in  three  or  four  years. 
The  church  was  built  during  the  depression  occasioned  by  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  rebellion,  and  the  heavy  debt  seriously  threatened 
the  prosperity  of  the  congregation ;  but  its  increase  was  such  that 
it  was  soon  able  to  remove  all  embarrassment. 

In  the  sjmng  of  1868  Dr.  Stryker  left  New  York,  and  became 
the  pastor  of  the  North  Broad  Street  Presbyterian  Charch,  Phila- 
delphia.    He  was  induced  to  leave  that  important  field  on  account 

545 


REV.      PETER     STRYKER,     D.  D. 

of  the  ill  health  of  two  members  of  his  family.  He  is  now  the 
pastor  of  ^the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Eome,  New  York,  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  important  churches  of  that  denomination. 
His  sphere  of  influence  is  even  larger  than  it  was  either  in  New 
York  or  Philadelphia.  He  has  declined  many  invitations  to  settle 
in  Chicago,  and  other  prominent  places.  He  is  much  engaged  in 
the  temperance  cause,  and  also  delivers  popular  lectures.  His  most 
entertaining  and  eloquent  lectures  are  from  under  the  respective  titles 
of  "Conversation,"  "Practicability,"  "Matrimony,"  and  "Grease  for 
the  Wheel."  In  the  summer  of  1872  he  returned  from  a  tour  in 
Europe,  Egypt,  and  Palestine. 

Dr.  Sti-yker  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  University  of 
New  York  in  April,  1866.  For  many  years  he  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions, 
and  he  is  one  of  the  Council  of  the  Patriot  Orphan  Home,  at 
Flushing,  Long  Island. 

He  has  written  largely  for  the  "Christian  Intelligencer,"  "Na- 
tional Advocate,"  and  "  The  Youth's  Temperance  Banner,"  organs 
of  the  National  Temperance  Society.  Among  his  writings  is  much 
in  verse,  including  Sunday  School,  missionary,  and  temperance 
hymns.  He  has  published  a  volume  entitled  "  Three  Little  Graves ;" 
another,  entitled  "Little  Gems  for  the  Saviour's  Crown;"  and  a 
third  will  soon  be  put  to  press.  The  most  noted  of  his  published 
sermons  are  "The  Lower  Depths  of  the  Great  American  Metropo- 
lis," and  "The  City  Wholly  Given  to  Idolatry." 

The  following  extract  from  one  of  Dr.  Stryker's  sermons  is  cha- 
racteristic of  his  style : 

"  Beloved  Christians,  let  us  look  forward  to  heaven  as  the  place  of  our  abode 
when  we  shall  have  conquered  the  last  enemy,  Death.  Sweeter  bliss  than  the  most 
fertile  imagination  can  conceive,  purer  and  more  perfect  enjoyment  than  the  Chris- 
tian can  anticipate,  awaits  us  there.  All  past  evil  will  be  forgotten,  and  the  future 
be  entirely  free  from  sorrow.  Every  blessing  which  an  intelligent  and  holy  being 
can  desire  will  be  provided.  The  society  of  all  the  good  who  have  ever  inhabited 
earth,  and  the  angels  who  have  never  sinned,  and  what  is  infinitely  more  to  be 
desired,  the  fellowship  and  love  of  the  triune  God,  will  be  enjoyed.  Oh  !  how  rav- 
ishing the  anticipation  !  To  see  the  great  white  throne,  the  fountain  gushing  be- 
neath it,  the  river  and  the  tree  of  life,  the  glory  of  the  Lord  ;  to  wear  the  crown, 
and  hold  the  palm  of  victory,  and  strike  the  golden  harp  ;  to  hear  the  anthem  of  the 
angels  and  all  the  redeemed,  and  see  the  smile  of  Jesus  ;  to  join  in  the  song  of  tri- 
umph ;  to  have  unfolded  to  our  view  the  great  mystery  of  redemption,  and  learn 
more  and  more  of  the  wonderful  nature  of  God,  and  the  astonishing  perfection  of 
His  works — to  do  and  experience  all  this,  and  yet  to  be  so  constituted  as  to  feel  no 
weariness  ;  to  behold  eternal  day,  and  need  no  night  to  bring  reposo  ;  to  see  eternal 

54C 


REV.     PETER     STUYKER,     D.  D. 

sunshine,  and  require  no  shadows  to  make  us  better  appreciate  the  full  splendor ;  to 
eat,  but  never  feel  satiety  ;  to  drink,  but  never  become  intoxicated  ;  to  glide  along 
on  a  calm  sea  that  never  has  a  ripple  ;  lo  sing  with  millions,  and  not  one  note  of  dis- 
cord ;  and  all  the  while  the  voice  becoming  attuned  to  higher  and  sweeter  strains, 
the  ear  accustomed  to  drink  in  more  delicious  melodies,  the  mind  expanding  to 
comprehend  richer  truths,  and  the  heart  developing  to  the  experience  and  expres- 
sion of  purer  and  fuller  love  !  Perfection,  and  going  on  to  perfection  I  Glory,  in- 
creasing glory  !  Praise,  higher  praise  !  Oh!  this  is  Heaven.  This  is  what  the  poor, 
toiling,  careworn,  infirm,  sick,  dying  believer  will  experience  when  he  has  crossed 
the  rill  of  death,  and  reaches  the  celestial  city.  This  is  what  millions  of  poor  pil- 
grims who  rest  from  their  weary  journey  have  attained." 

Dr.  Stryker  is  about  the  average  height,  and  rather  sparely 
made.  To  look  at  him,  he  seems  of  a  delicate,  feeble  organization, 
but  he  is  really  a  pei-son  of  a  great  deal  of  physical  energy  and  en- 
durance. His  head  is  well-formed,  with  regular  features.  His  brow 
is  round  and  well  developed,  and  it  is  to  be  seen  that  his  intellectual 
capacit}^  is  of  no  mean  order. 

It  is-  no  trouble  to  become  acquainted  with  Dr.  Stiyker.  He 
is  genial,  talkative,  and  cheerful,  and  he  puts  you  on  a  basis  of  good 
fellowship  at  once.  You  find  him  kind  and  considerate  in  all 
things  ;  but  you  see  that  his  opinions  are  firm,  bis  prejudices  deep- 
seated,  and  his  purpose  marked  out  and  sustained  by  conscientious 
conviction. 

Dr.  Stryker  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  a  most  valuable  man  m 
liis  day  and  generation.  He  loves  to  work,  and  all  that  he  attempts 
is  done  with  judgment  and  energy,  and  hence  generally  with  suc- 
cess. He  does  not  travel  along  the  beaten  track  of  his  pastoral 
duties,  but  he  puts  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel  wherever  he  thinks 
he  can  do  his  fellow-man  a  service. 

He  writes  a  fluent  and  very  practical  sermon.  It  has  a  thorough- 
ly religious  tone ;  and  while  he  never  writes  a  word  for  mere  dis- 
play, his  thoughts  naturally  weave  themselves  into  fervent  and 
eloquent  language.  He  is  also  logical  and  argumentative,  and, 
whatever  he  has  to  say,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  it  fearlessly  and  to 
the  point.  In  all  reforms  he  exhibits  great  power.  He  is  untiring, 
shows  the  keenest  judgment  in  regard  to  the  plans  of  the  advereary, 
detects  his  weaknesses,  and  makes  himself  formidable  by  his  intelli- 
gent mastery  of  the  whole  subject. 

Dr.  Stryker  is  more  progressive  than  most  ministers  of  his  de- 
nomination. He  makes  his  pulpit  a  means  of  carrying  forward  his 
war  of  reform.  Convinced  of  his  own  duty  in  the  premises,  he 
strikes  trenchant  blows  on  every  hand,  indifferent  to  all  criticism, 
and  only  eager  for  the  overthrow  of  vice. 

547 


REV.  EDWIN  C.  SWEETSER, 

£»AJSTOK,     or*     THE     THIKO    XJIVIVJEIISJlI^IST 
CIIUKOtl,    TVETF  YORK!. 


^)  EV.  EDWIN  C.  SWEETSER  was  bora  in  the  town  of 

^^    Wakefield,  Mass.,  March    16th,  1847.      His   father   was 

h   a  school-teacher  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life  after  he 


attained  his  majority.  An  older  brother  is  also  a  Univer- 
salist  minister.  He  catered  Tuft's  College,  Medford,  Mass.. 
Universalist  institution,  in  his  sixteenth  year,  and  was! 
graduated  in  his  twentieth.  After  graduation  he  spent  one 
year  in  business,  and  then  entered  the  Theological  School  at  St. 
Lawrence  University,  Canton,  N.  Y.,  where  he  pursued  his  studies 
for  one  year.  He  then  accepted  a  call  to  a  Umversalist  Church  in 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  beginning  his  labors  there  September,  1868.  In 
September,  1869,  he  came  to  the  cit}''  of  New  York,  and  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  his  present  pastorship  over  the  Third  Universalist 
Charch,  corner  of  Bleeker  and  Downing  streets. 

This  society  was  organized  over  forty  years  ago,  and  on  the  19th 
of  June,  1836,  the  present  church  was  dedicated.  Some  years  since 
the  church  was  renovated  at  a  cost  of  six  thousand  dollars,  when  the 
whole  property  was  valued  at  fifty  thousand  dollars.  There  have 
been  five  pastors,  Mr.  C.  F.  Lafever,  being  the  first  The  Eev.  Moses 
Ballou  and  the  Rev.  Day  K.  Lee,  both  eminent  ministers  of  the  de- 
nomination, were  also  pastors  for  considerable  periods.  Mr.  Lee  died 
while  in  the  service  of  the  society,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
pastor.  The  membership  has  nearly  quadrupled  under  the  ministry 
of  Mr.  Sweetser,  and  the  attendance  is  much  larger.  It  is  expected 
that  a  new  edifice  will  be  built  furtlier  up-town  within  a  few  years. 
Mr.  Sweetser  is  of  the  average  height,  finely  proportioned,  and 

erect     His  hea  1  is  of  considerable  size,  with  a  pale,  intellectual  faca 

548 


REV.     EDWIN    C.    SWEETSER. 

He  is  a  man  who  instantly  establishes  himself  in  your  favorable 
opinion  by  both  appearance  and  manners.  You  see  that  he  is  full 
of  the  genuine  frankness,  friendliness,  and  amiability,  which  are  so 
delightful  in  social  intercourse.  He  has  dignity,  too,  but  it  is  of  just 
that  measure  which  should  be  seen  in  one  of  his  clerical  calling, 
without  in  any  way  taking  from  that  spontaneous  good  feeling  and 
good  nature  which  belong  to  him  naturallj^  Thus  constituted,  of 
course,  he  is  a  popular  man,  standing  on  intimate  relations  of  friend- 
ship with  all  who  know  him. 

He  preaches  with  a  great  deal  of  fervor  and  power.  Deep,  positive, 
and  conscientioas  in  his  own  religious  convictions,  he  speaks  with  all 
the  force  of  his  mind  and  of  his  feelings.  There  is  nothing  dry  or 
tame  about  it,  for  it  is  the  strong  outpouring  of  faith,  and  the  glow 
of  personal  emotion.  His  language  is  choice  and  expressive,  and  his 
gesticulation  is  appropriate  and  timely.  While  he  is  still  a  3'oung 
man  in  the  ministry,  it  is  clearly  to  be  observed  that  he  has  a  self- 
possession  which  gives  much  additional  weight  to  his  utterances. 
The  reason  for  this  .is,  that  he  is  a  close  student  and  a  deep  thinker, 
so  that  he  goes  into  the  pulpit  with  complete  preparation  to  argue  his 
subject  and  to  defend  it.  Prosecuting  his  chosen  work  with  earnest- 
ness and  fidelity,  he  illustrates  it  by  the  practice  on  his  own  part  in 
a  life  of  admired  virtues. 

549 


RET.  T.  DE  WITT  TALMAGE, 

OliURCH,    I3K,OOX5LIL.Y]V. 


EV.  T.  DE  WITT  TALMAGE  was  born  near  Bonnrl 
Brook,  New  Jersey,  January  7tb,  1832.  He  is  the  son 
of  David  Talmage,  who  at  one  time  was  sheriff  of 
Somerset  county.  Four  brothers  of  this  family  are  in 
tbe  ministry — viz:  James  R  Talmage,  D.  D.;  John 
V.N.  Talmage,  D.  D.,  a  distinguished  missionary  in  China ; 
Goyn  Talmage,  and  T.  De  Witt  Talmage.  Another  brother 
was  the  late  Daniel  Talmage,  a  well-known  rice  merchant  of  New 
York,  and  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Native  American  party  and 
the  order  of  United  Americans.  The  subject  of  our  notice  was 
graduated  at  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  1853,  and 
at  the  Theological  Seminary,  New  Brunswick,  in  1856.  During  the 
summer  of  the  same  year  he  was  called  to  Belleville,  New  York,  where 
be  was  duly  ordained  and  installed.  He  remained  in  this  position 
about  three  years,  when,  in  1859,  he  was  called  to  the  Second  Re- 
formed Church  of  Philadelpbia,  where  he  labored  seven  years.  From 
his  earliest  appearance  in  the  pulpit  he  commanded  marked  public 
attention.  He  showed  himself  to  be  a  man  of  original  thought,  and 
an  orator  of  no  mean  ability  ;  hence  crowds  flocked  to  hear  him,  and 
his  congregation  grew  in  numbers  and  influence.  At  a  period  when 
his  cburcb  in  Philadelphia  was  in  an  extremely  flourishing  condition, 
he  was  invited  to  the  pastorship  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church, 
located  on  Schermerhorn  street,  Brooklyn,  which  was  somewhat  fee- 
ble and  disorganized.  He  accepted,  and  was  installed  in  April,  1869. 
The  Central  Presbyterian  Church  was,  at  an  earlier  date,  located 
in  Willoughby  street,  where  for  some  time  it  was  in  charge  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Dufiield.  On  the  13th  of  February,  1851,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
Edson  Rockwell  was  installed  as  the  pastor,  and  thus  remained  for 

550 


^^, 


^A, 


^&^^^  A^'P^     /^i^A^L^^ 


EEV.     T.     DE    WITT    TALMAGE. 

some  fourteen  years,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  a  Presbyterian  church 
on  Staten  Island.  The  congregation,  after  many  trials,  in  which  they 
were  continually  called  upon  to  appreciate  the  cheerful  hope  and  un- 
tiring energy  of  Dr.  Rockwell,  were  enabled  to  build  an  edifice  in 
Schermerhorn  street,  seating  one  thousand  people,  which  was  dedi- 
cated December  10th,  1854.  The  cost  of  the  whole  property  was 
about  thirty-four  thousand  dollars,  of  which  an  indebtedness  of  twelve 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  remained  until  1863,  when  it  was  ]md. 
Mr.  Talmage  had  preached  only  one  year,  when  the  church  be- 
came crowded  at  every  service  to  its  utmost  capacity.  All  the  pewa 
were  taken  at  increased  rentals,  and  the  pastor  was  paid  the  large 
salary  of  seven  thousand  dollars.  The  increase  has  been  constant, 
and  now  the  assemblage  at  each  service  is  immense.  In  1870  a  large 
structure  was  erected  for  the  use  of  the  congregation,  on  a  site  of  six 
lots  on  Schermerhorn  street,  not  far  from  the  old  church.  In  style 
it  was  plain,  but  substantial,  having  an  interior  constructed  on  the 
amphitheatre  plan.  It  was  known  by  the  name  of  the  "  Tabernacle," 
and  was  crowded  at  each  service.  The  great  organ  used  in  the  Col- 
iseum in  Boston  during  the  Musical  Peace  Jubilee  in  1869  was 
purchased  for  this  church,  and  removed  to  Brooklyn.  Just  before 
service  on  a  Sabbath  morning  in  December,  1872,  this  novel  struc- 
ture was  totally  consumed  by  fire.  The  Acadamy  of  Music  was 
then  obtained,  and  service  was  conducted  there  on  each  Sabbath 
until  the  completion  of  a  new  and  larger  church  edifice  on  the  former 
site.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  with  impressive  services,  on  the  7th 
of  June,  1873,  and  contained  the  following  inscription  : — "Brook- 
lyn Tabernacle,  Built  1870  ;  destroyed  by  fire  December  22,  1872  ; 
rebuilt,  1878."  The  completed  edifice  was  dedicated  on  Sunday 
February  22d,  1874,  before  an  immense  congregation.  On  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  three  hundred  and  twenty  eight  new  members  were 
received  and  partook  of  the  sacrament.  The  ceremony  was  witnessed 
by  a  congregation  of  five  thousand  people.  This  is  one  of  the  largest 
public  buildings  of  Brooklyn,  and  there  is  no  other  church  edifice 
at  all  to  compare  with  it.  The  original  church  building  had  been 
fitted  up  for  a  reading-room,  and  room  for  the  social  gatherings  of 
the  congregation.  It  is  also  used  for  the  Free  Lay  College,  an  insti- 
tution for  the  instruction  of  persons  in  the  lay  ministry,  established 
by  Mr.  Talmage,  and  of  which  he  is  the  President.  There  are  six 
hundred  students,  and  twenty  eight  preaching  stations  have  been 
established  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  other  cities. 

551 


REV.     T.     DE    WITT    TALMAGE. 

Mr.  Talmage  early  induced  his  congregation  to  consent  to  have  a 
frte  church.  He  states  that  he  is  utterly  opposed  to  the  present  sys- 
tem upon  which  most  churches  are  conducted  of  high  rents  for  the 
pews,  and  utter  unconcern  for  the  accommodation  of  those  who  cannot 
pay  them.  As  a  student  of  human  nature,  and  as  a  believer  in  the 
influence  of  Christian  teachings,  he  is  confident  that  a  churcli  which 
is  really  free  will  thrive  more  abundantly  on  the  voluntary  offerings 
of  God's  people  than  by  the  method  generally  adopted.  He  thinks 
that  one  system  appeals  to  the  baser  nature,  while  the  other  will 
develop  generous  and  Christian  impulses.  Hence  out  of  all  the 
pews  in  the  vast  structure  of  the  Central  congregation  not  one  is 
sold  or  rented.  The  men  of  wealth,  or  in  moderate  circumstances,  and 
the  poor,  all  have  equal  rights  in  pews,  and  the  expenses  of  the 
church  are  borne  by  subscription,  and  the  Sunday  collections. 
Priority  of  application  is  the  only  rule  regulating  the  selectioii.  and 
a  pew  once  taken  can  be  held  as  long  as  the  occupant  desires  it. 
This  is  in  fact,  an  experiment  of  the  free-pew  system  on  the  most 
extensive  scale  ever  attempted. 

Mr.  Talmage  has  lectui'ed  throughout  the  country  with  great 
success,  having  been  everywhere  received  by  crowded  audiences. 
Among  his  lectures  may  be  named  "  The  New  Life  of  the  Nation," 
"Grumblers,"  "Our  New  House,"  and  "The  Bright  Side  of 
Things."  He  is  also  a  contributor  to  many  of  the  pei'iodicals. 
Exceedingly  agreable  sketches  from  his  pen  have  appeared  in  the 
New  York  Weekly^  Hearth  and  Home,  Hours  at  Home^  and  in  the 
New  York  Independent.  He  is  the  editor  of  a  religious  paper  called 
the  Christian  at  Work.  He  has  published  a  volume  of  Sermons,  and 
"  One  Thousand  Gems,  or  Brilliant  Passages,  Anecdotes,  and  Inci- 
dents, etc.,"  edited  by  Professor  Larabee. 

Mr.  Talmage  is  above  the  medium  height,  and  well-proportioned. 
His  frame  is  large,  but  he  is  naturally  rather  thin  in  flesh.  His  head 
is  of  the  average  size,  with  marked  evidence  of  intellectual  power. 
He  has  light  eyes  and  a  sandy  complexion.  Looking  into  his  face, 
you  are  struck  with  its  amiability  and  cheerfulness.  In  conversa- 
tion it  is  always  bright  with  animation,  and  at  all  times  is  a  perfect 
mirror  of  his  emotions.  His  eyes  are  clear,  tender,  and  observing, 
while  his  tone  and  manners  are  gentle  and  warm  in  the  extreme. 
An  invariable  self-reliance,  and  calmness,  and  judgment  in  all  his 
proceedings  give  him  dignity  and  self-possession,  but  in  these  partic- 
ulars there  is  nothing  affected  or  studied  about  him.     He  is  plain 

552 


EEV.    T.     DE    WITT    TALMAGE. 

and  unostentatious  in  his  appearance  and  bearing,  and  hence  mingles 
freely  with  his  fellow-men.  His  warmth  of  manners  and  his  genial 
flow  of  convei'sation  place  even  the  stranger  at  once  on  the  most 
agi'eeable  terms  with  him.  In  truth,  his  conversational  powers  are 
little  less  than  fascinating.  He  is  full  of  noble  sentiments,  poetry, 
and  humor ;  he  looks  at  life  with  his  "  eyes  and  ears  wide  open,''  and 
he  discusses  both  men  and  topics  with  comprehensiveness  and  origi- 
nality. He  is  never  ashamed  to  show  his  feelings,  and  never  afraid 
to  declare  his  opinions.  Independent,  out-spoken,  and  yet  generous, 
tender,  and  sympathetic,  he  presents  in  his  own  disposition  the  most 
manly  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  beautiful  traits  that  ever  adorn 
human  cliaractcr.  In  social  life  he  is  all  vivacity,  all  goodness,  and 
all  himself.  Whether  it  be  eccentricity,  or  whether  it  be  simply  a 
larger  share  of  rich,  exuberant  animal  spirits  than  most  ministers 
possess,  certain  it  is  that  the  Eev.  T.  De  Witt  Talmage  is  more  real 
and  true  to  a  genuine  human  nature  in  social  life  than  any  of  his 
contemporaries.  He  seems  to  go  down  into  his  own  heart  for  a  gush- 
ing, abundant  spring  of  fellowship  and  love,  which  washes  out 
channels  to  every  other  heart.  He  follows  no  conventional  rales,  he 
is  guided  by  no  example,  but,  as  we  have  stated,  he  is  himself.  This 
is  not  because  he  is  indiiferent  to  the  force  of  these  rules  and  ex- 
amples, but  because  he  acts  from  a  quick,  impulsive,  and  original 
nature  of  his  own.  When,  in  the  glee  and  enthusiasm  of  the  mo- 
ment, at  a  church  festival,  he  exclaimed  that  he  felt  '■  like  the 
morning  star,"  it  was  not  that  his  taste  induced  him  to  take  liis 
illustration  from  negro  minstrelsy,  but,  acting  on  the  impulse  of  the 
moment,  he  humorously  seized  upon  a  popular  saying  to  express 
the  state  of  his  own  feelings.  Men  of  stiff  propriety  and  of  starciied 
dignity  would  not  do  or  say  many  things  that  he  does  every  day. 
With  him,  however,  a  free,  honest,  cheerful  heart  is  much  more  cul- 
tivated, and  it  is  given,  impulsive  and  erratic  as  it  often  is,  full 
influence  and  control  over  his  actions  and  sentiments. 

As  a  preacher,  he  has  even  more  striking  peculiarities.  He  is  an 
original,  terse,  bold,  and  eloquent  writer,  and  a  fluent,  impassioned 
speaker.  He  has  the  most  complete  command  of  language,  which 
takes  forms  of  expression  which  are  not  less  new  than  gi-aphic  and 
impressive.  His  thought  takes  a  wide  range  on  every  subject,  and 
they  are  sudden  in  their  changes  from  the  solemn  and  sublime  to  the 
humorous  and  odd.  At  one  time  he  will  indulge  in  a  strain  of  the 
most  touching  pathos,  and  then  suddenly  intr(;duce  some  humoroui*- 

553 


REV.    T.     DE    "WITT    TALMAGE. 

and  grotesque  illustration  that  will  almost  set  the  audience  in  a  roar. 
His  language  is  chaste  and  beautiful  in  the  expression  of  the  more 
sentimental  passages,  and  it  is  most  pungent  and  overwhelming  in 
criticism  and  denunciation.  He  has  sarcasm,  irony,  and  ridicule  at 
his  tongue's  end,  not  less  than  words  of  exquisite  poetic  beauty  and 
tenderness.  All  of  this  is  so  mingled  together,  and  so  altered  in 
surprises,  that  his  audience  find  themselves  spell-bound  by  the  nov- 
elty of  style  as  well  as  the  eloquence  of  the  orator.  His  voice  is 
powerful  and  flexible.  He  can  in  an  instant  change  it  from  tones 
that  ring  out  to  the  capacity  of  the  largest  building  to  accents  that 
float  in  soft  whispers  to  the  ear.  His  gesticulation  is  somewhat  mar- 
velous. There  is  not  a  sentence  that  he  has  not  some  gesture  of  the 
hand,  the  arms,  the  head,  or  the  body  to  illustrate  or  enforce,  and 
still  it  is  all  done  with  such  appropriateness  and  gracefulness  that  it 
adds  immensely  to  the  effectiveness  of  his  oratory.  His  face,  too, 
has  great  mobility,  and  in  the  changing  expressions  of  eye,  mouth, 
and  brow  is  a  vivid  accompaniment  to  his  fervent  words. 

Many  persons  find  it  difl&cult  to  form  a  favorable  opinion  in  re- 
gard to  Mr,  Tal  mage's  merits  as  a  preacher.  His  style  is  so  eccentric 
and  original  that  some  consider  it  mere  sensational  trash  in  language, 
and  buffoonery  in  action.  But  this  is  a  harsh  and  unjust  judgment. 
To  be  sure  he  puts  language  into  unusual  fora  s,  and  deals  in  the 
comic  to  a  large  degree ;  but  no  preacher  of  the  day  can  give  a  keener 
dissection  of  human  motives,  or  make  a  more  masterly  and  elo- 
quent Christian  appeal.  A  half-hour  of  his  earnest,  original  discus- 
sion will  give  you  suggestions  which  will  not  leave  you  for  many  a 
day  thereafter.  As  a  man  he  is  somewhat  of  an  oddity ;  but  as  a 
preacher,  he  is  full  of  the  spirit  of  God,  and  every  talent  and  every 
purpose  is  devoted  to  the  work  for  the  regeneration  of  fallen  man. 
If  he  makes  you  smile  and  weep  in  a  breath,  if  he  has  simple  sayings 
and  whimsical  ways,  he  is  also  a  ripe  scholar,  a  clear-headed  philoso- 
pher, and  a  Christian  orator.  He  has  qualifications  which  enable 
him  to  reach  and  control  the  great  popular  heart,  and  his  ministry 
is  consequently  one  of  most  marked  success. 

554 


n 


■^^^ 


-^^  -    ^(Z</^ 


REV.  WILLIAM  M.  TAYLOR,  D.  D., 

PASTOR    OF     THE    TA.mi:Xl,?^A.ClL.E     COIVGREGA.- 
TIOIV^L    CHTJKdl,    ]VETV^    YOKKL. 


EV.  DR.  WILLIAM  M.  TAYLOR  was  born  at  Kilmar- 
noch,  Scotland,  October  23d,  1829.  He  was  graduated 
at  the  University  of  Glasgow  in  1849,  and  at  the  theo- 
logical Hall  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Edinburgh  in  1852.  On  the  14th  of  December  of  the  same 
year  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  on  the  28th  of  June,  1853, 
he  was  first  settled  as  a  pastor  at  Kilmaurs,  a  small  village  of  Ayr- 
shire county,  Scotland.  Here  he  remained  two  years  until  called  to 
the  Derby  Road  Church  in  Liverpool,  England,  October  23d,  1855. 
This  was  a  missionary  enterprise  among  the  middle  classes  and  skilled 
operators  of  the  city,  and  from  a  membership  of  thirty  or  forty,  at 
the  beginning  of  Dr.  Taylor's  pastorship,  the  church  rose  to  a  member- 
ship of  six  hundred,  and  a  regular  attendance  of  from  eight  to  nine 
hundred.  A  new  church  edifice  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

In  1871  Dr.  Taylor  visited  the  United  States,  and  for  over  two 
months  filled  the  pulpit  of  the  Pilgrim  Church  (Rev.  Dr.  Storr's), 
Brooklyn,  as  a  supply.  Crowds  were  drawn  to  hear  him,  and  his 
preaching  produced  a  profound  impression.  When  the  Rev.  Dr 
Joseph  P.  Thompson,  for  twenty-six  years  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle 
Congregational  Church,  New  York,  suddenly  resigned  by  reason  of 
the  permanent  failure  of  his  health,  it  was  determined  to  call  Dr. 
Taylor  to  the  vacancy,  though  he  had  never  preached  before  the  con- 
gregation. Dr.  Thompson  went  abroad  immediately,  and  bore  with 
him  the  call  to  Dr.  Taylor,  which  was  duly  accepted.  Dr.  Taylor 
shortly  reached  New  York,  and  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Taber- 
nacle Church,  April  18th,  1872.  He  received  from  the  Liverpool 
congregation,  and  the  temperance  and  other  reform  organizations 
with  which  he  was  actively  connected,  many  tokens,  m  gifts  and 
addresses,  of  the  most  sincere  admiration,  and  regret  at  the  necessary 

555 


REV.      WILLIAM     M .     TAYLOR,     D.  D. 

separation.  In  every  sphere  of  religious  and  moral  effort  his  sojourn 
of  seventeen  years  in  Liverpool  had  been  characterized  by  the  most 
gratifying  results  to  the  community. 

The  Broadway  Tabernacle  congregation  had  its  origin  in  the  first 
iree  church  movement  in  New  York,  over  forty  years  ago.  About 
1830  Lewis  Tappan,  and  a  few  other  persons,  organized  the  earliest 
free  church  at  the  corner  of  Dey  and  Washington  streets.  Two 
years  later  they  called  to  New  York  the  Eev.  Charles  G.  Finney,  now 
of  Oberlin  College,  but  then  a  noted  revival  preacher.  The  Chatham 
Theatre  was  obtained  for  a  place  of  worship,  and  a  small  colony  went 
to  it  from  the  Dey  street  church.  Mr.  Finney  preached  during  four 
years  at  the  Theatre  building,  sometimes  to  audiences  of  twenty-five 
hundred  people,  and  caused  a  great  religious  excitement.  At  length 
it  was  decided  to  build  the  edifice  which  took  the  name  of  the  Broad- 
way Tabernacle,  and  was  completed  in  1836,  at  a  cost,  for  ground 
and  building,  of  sixty -six  thousand  dollars.  The  building  was  one 
hundred  feet  square,  with  a  spacious  gallery  around  the  entire  circuit, 
and  would  hold  three  thousand  people.  While  the  chief  design  was 
the  extension  of  the  free  church  plan,  it  was  proposed  also  to  provide 
suitable  accommodation  for  the  May  anniversaries  and  other  public 
meetings.  From  the  number  of  important  meetings  held  here  during 
the  twenty-one  years  of  its  existence,  the  building  became  famous 
throughout  the  whole  countiy. 

Mr.  Finney  and  a  colony  from  the  Chatham  Theatre  first  occupied 
it  as  the  sixth  free  church  of  the  city.  It  adojDted  the  name  and 
became  mainly  Congregational.  In  less  than  a  j'ear  Mr.  Finney 
left,  and  in  1838,  a  colony  from  the  first  church  came  in,  and  the 
Rev.  Joel  Parker  became  pastor.  During  two  years  the  church  was 
chiefly  under  Presbyterian  rule.  A  lieavy  mortgage  on  the  building 
was  about  to  be  foreclosed,  when  it  was  purchased  by  the  late  David 
Hale,  a  member  of  the  congregation,  and  editor  of  the  Journal  of 
Commerce^  for  $3-1,363.  At  the  last  meeting  held  in  the  vestiy  July 
7th,  1840,  under  Mr.  Parker,  a  committee  was  appointed  for  the 
formation  of  a  Congregational  church,  which  was  done  under  its 
present  name.  Mr.  Hale  gave  the  new  church  a  most  liberal  lease, 
and  the  Rev.  E.W.  Andrews  was  settled  as  the  first  pastor  in  January, 
18'41.  He  was  succeeded  in  April,  1845,  by  the  Eev.  Joseph  P. 
Thompson,  who  so  long  was  the  efficient  and  popular  pastor.  The 
last  religious  services  were  held  in  the  old  Tabernacle  on  tlie  2Gth 
of  April,  1857.     A  very  eligible  site,  on  the  corner  of  Sixth  avenue 

556 


REV.     WILLIAM     M.     TATLOR,     D.  D. 

and  Thirty-fourth  street,  consisting  of  six  lots,  was  purchased  for 
$60,000,  and  a  fine  stone  edifice,  costing  $100,000,  was  completed  in 
185i).  The  congregation  at  once  became  one  of  the  strongest  of  tlie 
up-town  religious  bodies.  In  1872  the  building  was  remodeled  and 
beautifully  decorated  at  a  cost  of  $40,000.  There  are  about  six 
hundred  members,  and  every  seat  is  rented.  A  large  Sunday  School 
is  under  the  care  of  Caleb  B.  Knevals,  Esq.  In  all  their  contributions 
for  the  support  of  public  worship  and  benevolent  objects,  the  congre- 
gation is  not  exceeded  in  liberality  by  any  in  New  York. 

Dr.  Taylor  was  a  contributor  to  one  of  the  Scottish  reviews  for 
several  years.  He  also  published  in  18(32  a  volume  entitled  "Life 
Truths ;'"  in  1865  two  volumes  on  "  The  Miracles  ;  Helps  to  Faith 
Not  Hindrances,"  and  more  recently  "The  Lost  Found,"  a  series  of 
sermons  on  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Luke.  In  July,  1872,  he  received 
the  degree  of  D.D.  from  both  Yale  and  Amherst  colleges. 

In  personal  appearance  Dr.  Taylor  is  a  good  type  of  the  intellect- 
ual Scotchman.  Of  the  medium  height  ,he  is  of  a  compact, well-propor- 
tioned form,  showing  evidence  of  no  little  physical  vigor.  He  has 
an  active  step,  with  a  slightly  inclined  and  swinging  body  as  ho 
hurries  along.  His  head  is  large,  gi-adually  increasing  in  fullness 
from  the  broad  massive  mouth  to  the  round  high  brow,  which  over- 
hangs the  clear  observing  eyes.  He  has  thick  black  hair  and  heavy 
whiskers.  The  face  is  one  in  which  force  of  character,  greatness  of 
mind,  and  kindness  of  heart,  are  all  displayed.  It  shows  resolution 
and  courage  in  the  firmly  compressed  mouth,  and  grasp  of  thought  in 
the  noble  brow,  but  not  less  of  gentleness  of  heart  in  the  kindly 
beaming  eyes,  and  warm  sunny  smile.  His  manners  are  always 
courteous  and  fascinating,  so  that  you  are  unconsciously  drawn  into 
intimate  relations  with  him ;  but  at  the  same  time  you  never  cease  to 
feel  tliat  he  is  the  impersonation  of  the  giant  forces  which  move  and 
guide  mankind.  He  is  not  wanting  in  dignity,  but  has  an  easy 
politeness  and  sociability  with  all,  which  quickly  remove  restraint 
Talkative  and  cheerful,  in  social  life  he  is  alike  popular  with  the 
old  and  young.  In  the  wider  scenes  of  his  public  duties,  good  feel- 
ing and  earnestness  of  action  always  prevail. 

Dr.  Taylor  has  been  a  diligent  student  in  the  deeper  studies  of 
theology,  as  well  as  in  more  popular  learning  and  literature,  conse- 
quently his  mind,  of  great  natural  freshness  and  quickness,  is  adorn- 
ed with  a  culture  which  enables  him  to  deal  with  every  question,  not 
onlj  in  its  most  scholarly,  but  its  most  refined  forms  of  thought  and 

557  • 


REV.      WILLIAM     M.     TAYLOR.      D.  D. 

expression.  All  his  writings  have  a  beauty  and  force  of  diction 
which  charm  the  educated  taste.  His  arguments  have  originality 
and  penetration,  while  the  language  throughout  is  delicate,  pure,  and 
impassioned.  Though  a  stern  religionist,  he  is  a  man  not  without  a 
love  of  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  life.  His  heart  and  mind  are 
always  open  to  those  impressions,  and  in  his  writings  and  conversa- 
tion his  fancy  often  repeats  them  in  graceful  poetic  imagery.  A 
serious,  earnest  minister  of  the  Gospel,  his  effort  is  to  be  exactly  con^ 
si  stent  in  all  the  duties  of  his  calling  and  fiaith,  but  fortunately  he  is 
a  person  moved  by  those  impulses  which  harmonize  his  feelings  with 
truth,  humanity,  and  purity  in  all  their  phases.  His  writings  there- 
fore, be  they  religious  or  whatever  else,  have  all  that  the  seeker  for 
argument  and  scholarly  depth  may  desire,  with  those  exquisite  touches 
of  feeling  to  make  them  more  beautiful  and  tender. 

But  without  doubt  the  greatest  power  of  Dr.  Taylor  is  as  the  pulpit 
orator.  He  begins  in  a  calm,  self-possessed  manner,  stating  his  position 
in  particularly  clear  and  forcible  language.  His  voice  is  full  and  pow- 
erful, but  always  completely  under  his  control,  and  properly  modu- 
lated to  give  effect  to  his  utterances.  As  he  goes  on  he  becomes  more 
absorbed  in  his  feelings,  he  gesticulates  a  great  deal,  and  frequently 
rises  to  bursts  of  strong  emotion  and  thrilling  eloquence.  You  are 
struck  with  the  vigor  and  copiousness  of  the  language,  of  the  aptness 
and  newness  of  the  illustrations,  and  of  the  profound  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures  and  of  the  human  heart.  When  he  concludes,  gen- 
erally with  some  glowing  picture  of  religious  fancy,  or  with  some 
pathetic  appeal  to  the  feelings,  you  find  yourself  awakened  from  the 
spell  which  only  matchless  oratory  can  invoke. 

We  regard  Dr.  Taylor  as  a  most  valuable  acquisition  to  the 
American  pulpit.  Ordained  to  preach  the  Gospel,  he  is  doing  it 
with  his  whole  heart,  and  all  the  gifts  which  God  has  given  him. 
Men  are  proud  of  him,  and  they  are  arrested  in  their  heedless  walks 
by  his  pious  teachings  and  his  bright  example.  Hence  his  pastor- 
ships are  made  memorable  for  fidelity  to  duty,  and  the  number  of 
those  added  to  the  household  of  the  redeemed. 

558 


REY.  ELISHA  E.  L.  TAYLOR,  D.  D., 

ILiJlTE    pastor    of    ©TROIVO    1?L,A.CE    BA.I»TIST 
CJHXJKCH,    33I100I£3L.YIV. 


iEY.  DR  ELISHA  E.  L.  TAYLOR  was  born  in  the 
village  of  Delphi,  Onondaga  county,  New  York,  Sept. 
25th,  1815.  His  father,  Richard  Taylor,  was  the  son  of 
Judge  Taylor,  of  Saratoga  county,  several  of  whose  sons 
were  distinguished  in  that  county  and  elsewhere,  in 
political  circles  and  in  service  in  the  last  war  vfhh  Great 
Britain.  Hon.  John  M.  Taylor,  of  Balston  Spa,  who  was 
State  senator,  lieutenant-governor,  member  of  Congress  for  over 
twenty  consecutive  years,  and  Speaker  of  the  House  for  two  sessions, 
was  one  of  the  sons.  The  subject  of  our  notice  prepared  for  college 
principally  at  Hamilton,  Madison  county,  and  was  graduated  at 
Madison  Universit}-,  and  at  the  Hamilton  Theological  Seminary, 
in  the  year  1839.  He  remained  until  the  spring  of  1840  a  resident 
graduate,  and  then  removed  to  Brooklyn,  where  all  his  ministerial 
life  was  spent.  In  May.  1840,  he  organized  what  is  known  as  the 
Pierrepont  street  Baptist  Church,  and  an  edifice  for  worship  was 
erected  on  the  corner  of  Pierrepont  and  Clinton  streets.  This  con- 
gregation increased  rapidly  from  year  to  year.  In  the  fall  of  1848  a 
new  society  seemed  earnestly  called  for  in  South  Brooklyn,  and  Dr. 
Taylor  was  induced  to  accept  the  call  of  a  colony  from  the  old 
church,  who  went  out  with  the  cordial  approval  of  the  mother 
church  to  raise  a  new  organization  in  that  growing  and  important 
part  of  the  city. 

In  1849  worship  was  commenced  in  a  new  stone  chapel  in  Strong 
place.  A  large  and  elegant  main  edifice  of  red  free-stone,  fronting 
on  Degraw  street,  was  erected  during  1851-2,  and  dedicated  Sep- 
tember 19th,  1852.  For  tastefulness,  spaciousness,  and  convenience 
these  buildings  are  unsurpassed  in  the  whole  country.  The  buildings 
alone  cost  over  seventy  thousand  dollars,  and  the  last  of  the  debt 

559 


REV.    ELISHA    E     L.   TAYLOR,    D.  D. 

^as  paid  m  1863.  Up  to  the  same  period  one  thousand  members  "had 
joined  the  church,  and  five  hundred  of  the  members  were  received 
and  baptized  on  profession  of  their  faith. 

A  few  years  since  Dr.  Taylor  felt  obliged,  by  ill  health,  to  with- 
draw from  the  active  ministry,  and  accordingly  resigned.  His  con- 
gregation parted  with  him  only  with  the  greatest  regret.  The  sum  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars  was  presented  to  him. 

During  Dr.  Taylor's  pastorship  we  penned  the  following  remarks 
concerning  him,  which  show  his  habits  at  that  time. 

"Dr.  Taylor  is  an  earnest  laborer  in  the  field  of  the  Lord.  Mere 
preaching  is  a  small  part  of  his  toils.  Ris  restless,  untiring  spirit 
will  not  allow  him  to  keep  aloof  fi  jm  any  scheme  or  purpose  which 
can  possibly  increase  his  flock  and  advance  the  interests  of  religion. 
He  does  not  hide  himself  in  his  study,  and  leave  all  non-professional 
matters  to  his  deacons  and  committeemen,  but  he  goes  abroad  and 
puts  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel  with  them,  and,  if  they  try  to  escape 
their  duty,  he  pursues  them  '  where  merchants  most  do  congregate.' 
He  is,  in  fact,  a  go-ahead,  systematic,  business-man,  and  one  of  the 
results  is  seen  to-day  in  the  somewhat  rare  circumstance  of  a  church 
free  from  debt.  He  watches  everything  and  everybody,  and  he 
wishes  everybody  to  watch  him,  and  has  drawn  about  him  a  class  of 
people  who  are  as  thorough -going  as  himself.  When  the  Strong 
Place  congregation  was  organized,  he  took  a  colony  of  Baptists  from 
other  parts  of  the  city,  and  created  a  population  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
new  sanctuary.  All  within  a  few  years,  a  magnificent  edifice  has 
been  built,  one  of  the  largest  congregations  in  Brooklyn  drawn  to- 
gether, and  the  church  cleared  from  every  encumbrance.  While 
much  of  this  success  has  been  occasioned  by  the  talent  of  Dr.  Taylor 
as  a  preacher,  still  he  has  done  quite  as  much  by  his  ability  and  per- 
severance in  other  brandies  of  duty." 

Dr.  Taylor  is  now  connected  with  the  Baptist  Union  Eooms,  as 
Secretary  of  the  Church  Extension  Fund.  His  efforts  are  specially 
directed  to  the  raising  of  money  for  the  benefit  of  Baptist  churches  in 
the  West.  He  is  a  very  enthusiastic  Baptist.  His  whole  being 
seems  constantly  pervaded  with  rejoicings  in  his  faith,  which  is 
everything  to  him,  while  all  others  are  as  nothing.  As  may  be  sup- 
posed, his  preaching  is  decidedly  sectarian.  "  Rather,"  he  said,  on 
one  occasion,  "  might  my  right  arm  be  hewn  from  my  body  than  that 
I  should  not  stand  baptized  by  immersion."  The  expounding  of  the 
Baptist  faith,  and  the  enlargement  of  the  Baptist  fold,  are  to  him  the 

560 


REV.     ELISHA    E.    L.    TAYLOR,    D.  D. 

sum  and  substance  of  all  earthly  glory.  In  this  work  he  is  kindled 
with  an  ever-present,  ever-controlling  mspiivation.  To  show  his  de- 
votion to  his  sect,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  he  founded  a  library 
connected  with  his  church,  which  consists  of  works  on  a  great  variety 
of  subjects,  but  only  those  written  by  Baptists.  He  wishes  to  make 
apparent  the  extensive  scope  of  the  Baptist  mind. 

Dr.  Taylor's  sermons  are  extremely  plain  and  practical.  He  is 
not  much  given  to  efforts  of  rhetoric  or  flights  of  fancy ;  but  lie 
writes  in  bold,  vigorous  terms,  discussing  every  point  with  peculiar 
thoroughness,  and  making  sober  logic  his  sole  reliance.  He  has  a 
fiill,  harmonious  voice,  and  exhibits  much  absorption  in  his  subject, 
combine!  with  an  eloquent  animation.  In  truth,  Dr.  Taylor  is  one 
of  the  most  able,  efficient,  and  popular  of  the  Baptist  clergy.    ♦ 

He  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Rochester  University,  in 
1855.  His  publications  consist  of  several  sermons,  and  two  or  thi'ee 
public  addresses,  delivered  on  special  occasions. 

Dr.  Taylor  is  under  the  average  height,  and  slightly  inclined  to 
corpulency.  His  head  is  large,  and  set  on  his  shoulders  with  a 
muscular  neck.  The  face  is  broad  and  expressive,  and  the  brow  well 
developed.  He  is  very  courteous,  wliile  a  person  of  decided  opinions, 
and  not  backward  in  expressing  them.  He  has  a  high  sense  of  pro- 
priety in  regard  to  everything  he  does,  and  is  particularly  rigid  in 
the  performance  of  all  professional  duties. 

561 


KEY.  JESSE  B.  THOMAS, 

P»AJSTOK,    OE'    THE    FIRHT'    I$A.L»TIST    CHUKCH, 


EV.  JESSE  B.  THOMAS  was  born  at  Edwardsville, 
Madison  county,  Illinois,  Julj  29th,  1832.  His  father 
was  the  late  Judge  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  that  State.  He  was  graduated  at  Kenjon  Col- 
lege, Gambler,  Ohio,  in  August,  1850,  and  commenced  the 
study  of  the  law.  He  was  converted  and  bec£ime  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church  when  not  quite  ten  years  of  age.  Theology 
had  been  also  a  lavorite  study  with  him,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1852 
he  went  to  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  a  Baptist  institu 
tion,  with  the  intention  of  preparing  regularly  for  the  ministry 
111  health  obliged  him  to  leave  at  the  end  of  two  months  ;  and,  re- 
turning after  six  months,  spent  principally  in  traveling,  he  was  again 
compelled,  for  the  same  reason,  to  relinquish  his  studies.  During 
this  time,  however,  in  1853,  he  was  licensed  to  preach.  After  leav- 
ing the  Seminary  he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  was  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits  until  the  autumn  of  1855.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  Chicago,  where  he  practiced  until  October, 
1862.  He  now  became  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church,  at  Wakegan, 
Illinois,  and  thus  continued  until  July,  186-1,  when  he  accepted  a 
call  to  the  Pierrepont  Street  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn,  an  old  and 
leading  congregation.  He  entered  upon  his  duties  on  the  1st  of  the 
succeeding  September.  Later,  Mr.  Thomas  accepted  calls  to  churches 
in  San  Francisco  and  Chicago.  In  1873  he  was  invited  to  the  pas- 
torship of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Brooklyn,  which  had  formed 
a  union  with  the  Pierrepont  street  congregation.  His  official  duties 
commenced  on  the  first  Sunday  in  January,  1874. 

The  First  Baptist  Church  was  organized  with  eleven  members, 
and  incorporated  October  15th,  1823.  Services  were  held  for  some 
time  ill  District  School  House,  No  1.     A  lot  was  purchased  in  Pearl 

street,  between  Concord  and  Nassau  streets,  for  $4,000,  and  a  house, 

562 


REV.    JESSE    B.    THOMAS. 

sixty  by  forty  feet  erected,  which  the  congregation  continued  to  oc- 
cupy for  about  ten  years.  Having  secured  a  lot  in  Nassau  street, 
near  Fulton  street,  for  $7,000,  in  1884,  the  recently  occupied  edifice 
of  the  congregation,  eighty  by  sixty  feet,  was  constructed,  at  a  cost  of 
$17,000.  The  building  vacated  was  sold  to  an  Episcopal  congre- 
gation. Rev.  W.  C.  Hav/ley,  or  Holly,  was  tbe  first  pastor.  In 
1841,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L.  Hodge  became  the  pastor,  and  thus  remained 
during  eleven  years.  He  temporarily  supplied  the  pulpit  foi-  a  year 
subsequently.  Rev.  Henry  M.  Gallaher  then  become  the  pastor, 
and  served  for  several  years.  Just  prior  to  the  coming  of  Mr.  Tho- 
mas, the  church  edifice  was  desti'oyed  by  fire,  but  the  united  con- 
gregation has  the  house  of  the  Pierrepont  street  congregation  for  its 
place  of  meeting. 

Mr.  Thomas  is  something  above  the  medium  height,  equally 
proportioned,  and  altogether  of  a  firm,  substantial- looking  figure. 
He  stands  erect,  with  his  head  well  up,  and  readily  gives  you  the 
idea  that  his  solid,  thoughtful  steps  are  not  more  of  the  physical 
than  mental.  His  head  is  of  fair  size,  with  regular,  intelligent  fea- 
tures. He  has  a  pale  complex icm,  and  rather  a  serious,  half-sad 
cast  of  countenance.  In  his  manners  he  is  quiet  and  undemonstra- 
tive, though  in  every  sense  cordial.  His  predominant  ciiaracteristic 
is  religious  seriousness.  In  boyhood  and  manhood  it  has  been  the 
same.  Beyond  everything  else  of  interest,  beyond  all  worldly  con- 
siderations, the  one  fascination — the  one  ever-present  thought — the 
Oiie  full  and  complete  comfort  of  his  heart  has  been  religion.  It  is 
not  that  he  presumes  to  that  intense  sanctity  which  men  of  ardent 
piety  are  apt  to  assume,  nor  is  it  that  he  fails  to  assimilate  with  those 
who  are  not  as  seriously  impressed  as  himself.  Without  falling  into 
the  error  of  such  a  course,  his  conduct  simply  shows,  at  all  times 
and  to  all  men,  that  he  is  a  religious  man,  and  that  he  seeks  to  be 
true  to  his  profession,  while  wholly  averee  to  being  deemed  a  pai-agon, 
or  even  an  example.  In  a  word,  he  is  the  correct-bearing  Christian, 
without  the  affectation  of  saintship.  Understanding  full  well  the 
folly  of  the  self-suflicient  Pharisee,  he  walks  before  men  in  the  hu- 
mility, but  hopefulness,  of  the  poor  sinner.  Observe  him,  and  you 
will  say  that  he  is  a  God-fearing,  devout  man,  but  never  that  he  is 
presumptuous  in  his  godliness.  Talk  with  him,  and  you  will  say 
that  he  is  ever  seeking  religious  topics,  but  never  that  it  is  for  any 
other  purpose  than  to  unfold  to  other  eyes  the  heavenly  glories  upon 
which  his  own  are  meekly  fixed.     In  early  boyhood  he  made  a  pub- 

563 


REV.    JESSE    B.     THOMAS. 

lie  profession  of  liis  faith,  and  has  never  faltered  in  it.  But  those 
who  remember  him  in  that  day  can  well  attest  that  it  was  a  con- 
scientious act.  Feeling  truly  re-born,  renewed  and  re-made,  as  lie 
arose  from  the  baptismal  waters,  still,  when  again  among  his  young 
companions,  he  bore  himself  as  if  happier  rather  than  holier.  When 
at  the  bar,  he  was  a  licensed  minister  and  a  thorough -going  Chris- 
tian, and  vet  he  never  made  any  parade  of  these  things,  while  he 
always  made  them  influential,  in  and  out  of  his  profession,  when  it 
could  be  done.  Thus  is  it  that  his  life  has  been  rendered  little  less 
than  remarkable.  Attaining  to  great  virtues,  he  has  never  seemed 
to  be  aware  of  it;  living  the  impersonation  of  all  his  professions,  he 
has  never  deemed  it  anj-thing  unusually  meritorious.  Always  a 
teacher  and  example,  as  well  by  his  practice  as  his  precepts,  he 
has  claimed  to  be  nothing  beyond  the  dilligent  learner  of  truth  and 
the  liumble  follower  of  upright  men. 

Mr.  Thomas   has  a  style  of  preaching  somewhat  uncommon  in 
the    modern  pulpit.     Giving  himself  simply  a  thoughtful  prepara- 
tion, he  preaches  entirely  extempore.     lie  thinks  that  the  custom  of 
analysis   of  evidence  and  the  necessity  of  ofl'-hand  speaking,  with 
which  he  was  flimiliarized  while  at  the  bar,  has  served  him  a  good 
purpose  in  his  ministry.     A  mental  examination  of  his  text,  without 
the   process   of   writing  out   his   argument,  lits   him  to  discuss  it 
When  he  enters  the  pulpit  he  has  the  whole  subject  fully  in  his 
mind,  but  tiie  language  which  is  to  be  used  is  left  to  the  spur  of  the 
moment     Hence  his  sermon  has  all  the  characteristics  of  an  im- 
promptu eflbrt,  and  is  altogether  extemporaneous.     There  is  a  force 
and  feeling  about  it  which  written  discourses  seldom  possess.     His 
language  is  exceedingly  fluent  and  well  chosen,  and  the  sermon  has 
the  arrangement  of  topics  and  the  multiplied  heads  of  argument 
usual  to  those  produced  in  the  study.     Borne  away  by  the  strength 
of  his  emotions  and  on  the  wings  of  his  ardent  fancy,  he  indulges  in 
impassioned  picturings ;    but  they  are,  after  all,  illusti-ations  of  the 
argument,  which  never  falters  to  the  end.     He  is  slightly  dramatic. 
At  such  periods  he  moves  from  side  to  side  of  his  pulpit,  talking 
with   that  freedom  from  hesitation  and  embarrassment,  and  with 
those  acceptable  gestures  which  best  show  the  orator.     His  voice  is 
a  pleasant  one,  and  falls  naturally  into  the  most  effective  modula- 
tions.    With  conspicuous  worth  and  character,  he  not  only  brings  to 
bis  profession  large  mental  capacity,  but  certainly  great  attractive- 
ness as  a  public  speaker. 

664 


REY.  HUGH  MILLER  THOMPSON,  D.  D., 

RECTOR    OF    Cnrtl'^T    CHURCH,    {I3I?lS!$COX»A.T^,) 
T»CEW    YORIt. 


Wj'm.  DR  HUGH  MILLER  THOMPSON    was    bora  in 
w|)  Londonderry,  Ireland,  June  5th,  1830.     He  was  brought 


;;/'JO^i^  to  the  United  States  when  six  years  old,  and  lived  first  in 
'^W)^^  New  York  city,  and  then  in  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Up  to 
eighteen  years  his  studies  were  pursued  privately.  In  1852  he 
was  graduated  in  Theology  at  the  Seminary  at  Nashotah,  Wis- 
consin. He  was  made  a  deacon  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  Decem- 
ber, 1852,  and  priest  in  1856,  by  Bishop  Kemper,  at  St.  John's 
Church,  Portage  City,  Wisconsin,  which  was  his  fii'st  rectorsliip. 
After  this  he  went  to  St.  Matthews,  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  and 
in  1859  for  one  year  to  Grace  Church,  Galena,  Illinois.  In  1860,  he 
accepted  the  professorship  of  Church  History  at  Nashotah,  where  he 
remained  until  1871.  During  the  same  time  he  was  an  assistant  at 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Milwaukee.  He  then  became  rector  of  St.  James', 
Chicago,  remaining  two  years.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1872,  he 
commenced  the  duties  of  his  present  rectorship,  at  Christ  Churcl ^ 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 

Christ  Church  congregation  formerly  worshiped  in  Eighth  street, 
but  a  number  of  years  since  purchased  the  magnificent  edifice  now 
occupied  by  them  on  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Thirty-fifth 
street.  Dr.  F.  C.  Ewer  was  the  rector  for  a  long  period,  and  on  his 
resignation  Dr.  Thompson  was  called.  The  income  of  the  Church  at 
this  date  is  some  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  There  are  professional 
and  boy  choirs  of  fine  voices,  and  the  service  is  rendered  with  great 
beauty  and  impressiveness.  The  large  sum  of  seven  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  is  expended  for  music.  At  the  regular  services  the 
pews  and  aisles  are  crowded  with  worshipers. 

For  twelve  years  Dr.  Thompson  was  editor-in-chief  of  the  Amer- 
ican Churchman^  the  leading  Episcopal  paper  of  Chicago  and  the 
Northwest.     The  paper  was  finally  removed  to  Hartford,  Connecticut, 

563 


REV.     HUGH     MILLER     THOMPSON,     D.  D. 

Dr.  Thompson  remaining  the  editor  for  one  year.  In  April,  1872, 
he  became  editor  of  the  Church  Journal  of  New  York.  He  has  pub- 
lished various  books  and  sermons.  The  volumes  are,  "  Unity  and 
its  Kestoration  ;"  "  Sin  and  Penalty,''  (several  editions  issued) ;  "  First 
Principles,''  (thirty  thousand  sold);  "Absolution;"  and  a  collection 
of  miscellaneous  writmgs  under  the  title  of  "  Copy."  He  has  also 
contributed  to  the  Continental  Monthly. 

Dr.  Thompson  is  of  the  average  height,  with  a  compact  figure. 
Mental  strength  is  joined  with  the  amplest  physical  resources.  He 
works  with  unwearying  thought  and  energy,  thinking  of  neither 
time  nor  toil  in  reaching  ends  for  the  good  of  his  church  and  society. 
We  quote  the  following  description  of  him,  from  a  communication 
written  to  a  New  York  journal : 

"Dr.  Thompson  has  been  called  'the  Beecher  of  Episcopacy,' 
but  no  two  men,  with  strong  points  of  resemblance,  could  be  more 
unlike.  Up  to  within  a  year  Dr.  Thompson's  life  has  been  that  of  a 
student,  a  thinker,  and  a  writer.  He  has  few  superiors  in  the  land  as 
a  deeply  read  scholar  and  a  man  of  large  and  liberal  knowledge. 
Comparatively  young,  no  man  has  wielded  anything  like  his  influ- 
ence in  molding  opinion  in  the  Episcopal  church  in  these  latter 
days.  But  it  was  not  known  except  to  a  few  in  New  York,  that  in 
addition  to  his  qualities  as  a  man  of  learning,  a  writer,  and  a  rea- 
soner,  Dr.  Thompson  also  possessed  the  gifts  of  a  rare  popular 
eloquence.  He  preaches  from  the  altar  steps,  without  note  or  com- 
ment He  is  gifted  generously  with  the  physical  basis  of  oratory — 
an  athletic  frame;  a  broad  deep  chest;  a  handsome  strong  face;  a 
leonine  head,  covered  with  disordered  masses  of  coal  black,  curling 
hair,  and  lightened  by  a  pair  of  deep  brown  eyes,  with  that  sad, 
poetical,  far  away  look  so  peculiar  to  Irish  eyes.  His  birth  may 
account  as  well  for  the  impassioned  headlong  flow  of  an  eloquence 
at  once  fiery  and  tender,  fierce  and  full  of  pathos,  delivered  with  a 
voice  that  sweeps  all  the  gamut  of  human  feeling." 

In  all  private  and  public  relations  Dr.  Thompson  is  well  calcu- 
lated to  exercise  the  utmost  influence.  Socially,  he  is  a  genial, 
sincere,  and  friendly  man,  drawing  every  one  toward  him,  while  in 
his  public  duties  he  is  totally  without  ostentation,  and  evidently  only 
an  humble  Christian.  Hence,  the  charm  of  his  character  and  the 
influence  of  his  teachings  penetrate  not  only  through  the  social  and 
church  circle  in  which  he  moves,  but  they  go  out  to  the  widest 
limits  of  the  community. 

566 


KEV.  ALEXANDER  R.  THOMPSON,  D.  D., 

PA.STOK    OF    THE    IVORTM    HEFOll^IED    OMXJRCH:, 

BIiOOIt3L,YI»f. 


)EY.  DR  ALEXANDER  R.  THOMPSON  was  born  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  October  IStb,  1822.  He  was  grad- 
uated at  the  New  York  University  in  1842,  and  at  the 
Princeton    Theological    Seminary   in    1845.     In   July  of 

fl845  he  became  assistant  minister  of  the  Central  Reformed 
Church,  Brooklyn,  but  in  January,  1846,  was  installed  over  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  Morristown,  N.  J.,  where  he  remained 
eighteen  months.  For  five  months  he  was  engaged  in  a  mission 
work  in  the  eastern  section  of  Brooklyn,  under  the  care  of  the  Board 
of  Missions  of  the  Dutch  Church.  He  gathered  a  small  congrega- 
tion, and  lots  were  purchased,  and  a  frame  building,  for  church  pur- 
poses, was  erected,  on  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Gates  avenues. 
This  property  at  length  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Baptists,  who  have 
erected  a  large  church  on  the  site ;  and,  in  fact,  Dr.  Thompson's 
movement  resulted  in  the  formation  of  several  congregations  of  dif- 
ferent denominations,  all  of  which  are  now  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion. 

In  March,  1848,  Dr.  Thompson  became  pastor  of  the  Reformed 
Church  at  Tompkinsville,  Staten  Island,  and  thus  continued  until 
September,  1851.  He  then  organized  a  new  church  at  Stapleton, 
Staten  Island,  and  was  its  pastor  for  eight  years.  In  1859  he  went 
to  the  South  Congregation  Church,  where  he  remained  three  years, 
but  did  not  dissolve  his  connection  with  the  Classis  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  He  next  became  the  colleague  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  George 
W.  Bethune,  at  the  Reformed  Church  in  West  Twenty-first  street, 
New  York,  in  March,  1862,  and  on  the  death  of  that  distinguished 
clergyman,  at  Florence,  Italy,  later  in  the  same  year  Dr.  Thompson 

567 


REV.     ALEXANDER    R.     THOMPSON,     D.D. 

succeeded  to  the  pastorship,  in  which  he  remained  many  years.  On 
Sunday,  December  28th,  1873,  he  was  installed  as  the  pastor  of  the 
North  Eeformed  Church,  Brooklyn,  where  he  is  now  conducting 
his  usual  efficient  work. 

During  his  ministry  he  has  declined  calls  to  Maine,  Albany,  Ro- 
chester, Indianapolis,  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  Brooklyn  (seven 
times),  and  New  York  (six  times.)  He  received  the  degree  of  A. 
M.  from  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  in  1845,  and  the  degree 
of  D.  D.  from  the  New  York  Universit}^,  several  years  since.  In 
the  summer  of  1872,  be  went  by  the  Pacific  Railroad  to  California, 
and  traveled  extensively  in  that  State. 

Dr.  Thompson  is  of  a  tall  person,  pale  complexion,  and  has  quite 
a  heavy  growth  of  red  wbiskers.  He  is  a  man  of  restless,  nervous  ac- 
tivity in  both  the  physical  and  mental  nature.  His  head  is  long, 
with  marked  prominence  in  the  intellectual  portion.  He  has  calm, 
pleasant  eyes,  and  altogether  a  most  expressive  face.  He  talks  with 
a  great  deal  of  animation,  and  cheerfulness  of  tone,  and  is  not  only 
very  genial,  but  very  interesting.  In  truth,  be  has  a  natural  fitness 
for  his  ministerial  work.  There  is  no  sucb  thing  as  being  on  the 
footing  of  a  stranger  with  him.  You  assume  social,  genial,  and  even 
intimate  relations  with  him  at  the  very  outset  of  your  acquaintance. 
Are  you  cheerful,  his  face  is  radiant  with  smiles,  and  he  yields  him- 
self to  the  influence  of  your  own  spirit.  Are  you  sad,  his  own 
heart  and  lips  are  touched  with  kindred  sympathies.  Are  you  amid 
the  scenes  of  religion,  his  holy  thoughts  kindle  you  with  inspiration. 
There  is  notlnng  sufficiently  formal  in  his  bearing  to  be  called  dig- 
nity, but  he  is  always  personally  impressive.  His  tall,  wiry  frame — 
his  pale,  intellectual  face — his  gentle,  speaking  eyes — his  hearty 
cordiality,  instantly  present  him  to  the  perceptions  as  a  man  of  no 
ordinary  character.  And  it  is  the  same  with  all  that  he  says.  He 
converses  with  little  apparent  reflection,  and  with  no  effort  to  make 
any  particular  exhibition  of  wisdom,  but  you  readily  discover  in 
these  impulsive,  off-hand  sentences  the  most  solid  and  practical  opin- 
ions. He  has  always  been  a  hard  worker  in  the  pastoral  life.  Full 
of  enthusiasm  in  whatever  he  sets  out  to  do,  which  is  half  the  battle, 
he  toils  joyously,  and  generally  triumphantly.  When  others  hesi- 
tate, he  pushes  forward  more  boldly,  and  when  others  despair,  he  is 
upheld  by  confidence.  Meek  in  all  else,  for  his  principles,  and  in 
the  path  of  his  duty,  he  stands  lion-hearted.  An  early  convert  to 
the  religious  faith,  it  grew  and  strengthened  with  his  maturing  life, 

568 


REV.     ALEXANDER    R.     THOMPSON,     D.  D. 

until  lie  preaches  it  with  not  only  the  power  of  learning,  but  the  in- 
spiration of  blissful  hope. 

Dr.  Thompson  writes  an  able  and  elegant  sermon.  His  vigorous, 
and  at  the  same  time,  highly  imaginative  mind,  displays  itself  on 
paper  in  language  at  once  the  most  forcible  and  refined.  The  same 
emotional  fervor,  which  ever  links  his  feelings  with  his  comprehen- 
sion in  conversation,  appears  in  every  word.  His  sincerity  cannot 
any  more  be  doubted  than  the  striking  beauty  of  his  style  can  fail 
to  be  appreciated.  His  delivery  is  peculiar  and  very  effective.  It  is 
original  in  many  respects,  and  eccentric  in  some  particulars,  but  as 
a  whole  has  a  powerful  effect  upon  the  hearer.  He  has  a  voice  of 
much  fullness  and  strength,  but  it  is  entirely  under  his  control,  and 
IS  increased  or  depressed  with  equtl  facility.  Indeed,  his  eloquence 
gains  no  little  of  its  power  fi*om  the  manner  in  which  his  voice  I'anges 
all  along  the  scale  of  sound,  rising  frv>m  soft  mellow  tones  into  loud, 
emphatic  utterances,  and  then  again  falling  away  into  tender  whis- 
pers. He  moves  about  the  pulpit  a  great  deal,  and  gesticulates 
constantly,  and  sometimes  vehemently.  Learned,  eloquent,  pathetic, 
and  it  may  almost  be  said  strangely  impressive,  he  justly  has  a  very 
high  reputation  in  the  ministry. 

569 


REV.  JOSEPH  P.  THOMPSON,  D.  D., 

3L.A.TE:    Pj^STOR   OF    THE   TA.BEK]VA^CTL.E  COIVGHE- 
G^TIOJVji^IL,     CriXJRCII,    NETV     YOKIt. 


EV.  DR.  JOSEPH  P.  THOMPSON"  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, August  7tli,  1819.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1838,  and  studied  Theology  at  Amlover  Col- 
lege and  New  Haven.  In  November,  1840,  he  was 
^p  ordained  pastor  of  the  Chapel  street  Congregational  Church, 
<^  New  Haven,  where  he  remained  five  years.  He  removed  to 
New  York  in  April,  1845,  having  accepted  a  call  to  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle  Church.  While  in  New  Haven,  Dr.  Thompson  originated 
The  New  EiKjlcmder^  a  Congregational  quarterly  review,  and  he 
was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Independent.  In  1852  he 
devised  the  plan  of  the  Albany  Congregationalist  Convention,  which 
was  the  means  of  giving  unity  and  efficiency  to  that  denomination. 
He  has  performed  most  acceptable  services  as  manager  of  the  Ameri- 
can Congregational  Union,  and  of  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society.  He  sailed  for  Europe  and  the  East  in  1852,  and  passed 
two  years  exploring  Palestine,  Mount  Sinai,  Egypt,  and  other 
Oriental  countries.  After  his  return  he  gave  much  attention  to 
Oriental  studies,  especially  Egyptology,  and  published  a  great  deal 
on  the  subject  in  "The  North  American  Review,''  "Bibliotheca 
Sacra,"  "Journal  of  the  American  Geographical  and  Statistical 
Society,"  "  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Biblical  Geography  and  Antiquities," 
and  the  revised  edition  of  "  Kitto's  Cjxlopsedia  of  Biblical  Litera- 
ture." 

He  received  the  degree  of  D.  D,  from  Harvard  University,  in 
1856.  His  publications  are  numerous,  including  extensive  works, 
sermons,  and  addresses.  These  may  be  named — "  Memoirs  of 
Timothy  Dwight,"  "Lectures  to  Young  Men,"  "Hints  to  Employers," 
"Memoir  of  David  Hale,"  "Foster  on  Missions,  with  a  Preliminary 
Essay,"  "  Stray  Meditations,"  revised  edition,  entitled  "  The  Believer's 
Refuge,"  "The  Invaluable  Possession,"  "Egypt,  Past  and  Present," 

570 


REV.      JOSEPH     P.     THOMPSON,     D.  D. 

•'The  Early  Witnesses,"  "Memoir  of  David  T.  Stoddard,"  "The 
Christian  Graces,"  "Love  and  Penalty." 

Dr.  Thompson  was  compelled  by  ill  health  to  resign  liis  pastor- 
ship in  1872.  It  caused  the  deepest  regret  to  his  congregation,  who 
testified  their  esteem  in  every  possible  manner.  A  liberal  pecuniary 
settlement  was  made  upon  him.  He  went  immediately  abroad  to 
resume  his  Oriental  travels  and  researches.  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  of 
Liverpool,  England,  was  then  called.  In  1873  Dr.  Thompson 
delivered  a  sei'ies  of  lectures  in  Berlin. 

Dr.  Thompson  is  a  person  of  good  proportions,  thin  visage,  and 
has  straight  dark  liair  and  whiskers.  He  is  a  student  of  incessant 
application.  His  studies  extend  to  many  branches  out  of  the  range 
of  theology,  but  which  present  fascinations  to  him  because  difficult, 
and  as  they  go  to  makeup  completeness  in  scholarship.  Astonished 
by  the  variety  and  extent  of  his  reading  and  research  on  subjects  of 
a  profound  charactei',  you  are  still  more  surprised  to  find  that  he  is 
familiar  with  the  current  and  lighter  literature  fresh  from  the  press. 
Everywhere  he  gathers  knowledge  or  entertainment,  working  like  a 
bee,  and  reproducing  the  varied  views  of  others  in  his  own  writings 
as  illustrations,  and  sometimes  accompanied  with  most  elaborate 
criticism.  His  occasional  addresses  in  particular  are  of  the  highest 
order  of  literary  merit.  There  are  few  who  discuss  subjects  in  a 
mode  so  original  and  interesting.  His  tlioughts  are  new,  clear,  and 
vigorous,  never  sinking  into  common-place,  failing  in  interest,  or 
losing  in  eloquence.  In  the  first  sentence  he  attracts  you,  and  when 
he  comes  to  the  last  has  still  your  delighted  ear.  His  sermons,  as 
well  as  these  addresses,  are  polished  compositions,  replete  with  the 
evidence  of  a  practiced  and  ready  pen.  He  is  an  impressive  speaker. 
He  confines  himself  quite  closely  to  his  notes,  but  speaks  with  great 
emphasis  and  power. 

The  doctor  is  very  enthusiastic  on  the  subject  of  the  Oriental 
countries.  His  travels  in  the  East  were  pei'formed  with  the  ardor  of 
a  Christian  pilgrim  to  sacred  shrines.  To  awful  Mount  Sinai,  to  the 
memorable  baptismal  waters  of  the  Jordan,  and  to  the  banks  of  the 
wondi'ous  Nile,  he  wandered,  filled  with  unspeakable  veneration. 
He  studied  the  lands  thoi'oughly,  and  came  back  to  the  United 
States  an  authority  in  their  geography  and  profound  in  their  history. 
While  his  energies  are  fully  linked  with  the  glorious  progress  and 
mighty  achievements  of  his  own  day,  still  he  gives  largely  of  his 
student  hours  to  unveiling  the  mysteries  with   which  time  has  be- 

r>7i 


REV.     JOSEPH     P.     THOMPSON,     D.  D. 

clouded  so  much  connected  with  the  countries  of  antiquity.  He 
thinks  that  there  can  be  no  greater  triumph  for  the  American  scholar 
than  to  make  clearer  and  broader  the  light  which  Oriental  and 
European  minds  have  already  imparted  to  the  subject.  Ah-eady 
claiming  this  triumph,  but  seeking  yet  greater  results,  he  never  grows 
tired  of  his  necessarily  laborious  investigations.  Along  the  way 
once  crowded  with  the  hosts  of  Israel,  in  the  path  sprinkled  with  a 
Saviour's  blood,  and  amidst  the  monuments  of  Egyptian  greatness, 
the  scholar,  born  in  a  new-found  world,  seeks  the  renown  wliich  is 
to  inscribe  his  own  name  in  imperishable  history. 

572 


REV.  JOHN  THOMSON,  D.  D., 

I»rtESBYTEKIA.]V    CHXJK.CH,    NE"W    YORK. 


EV.  DR.  JOHN  THOMSON"  was  born  at  St  Andrews, 
in  Scotland,  January  7tb,  1819.  He  was  graduated  at 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews  in  1841,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  on  the  5th  of  August  the  next  year,  by  the 
Presbytery  of  St.  Andrews,  of  the  Established  Church  of 
'^  Scotland.  For  several  years  he  resided  in  the  south  of  Eng- 
land. He  performed  the  duties  of  a  missionary  of  the  Presbytery 
of  London,  by  which  body  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  March 
28th,  1844.  In  1843,  on  the  separation  of  the  Free  Church  from  the 
Established  Church,  the  subject  of  our  notice  had  cast  his  ]ot  with 
the  former.  During  the  spring  of  1845,  he  settled  as  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Alnwick,  Northumberland,  England,  where 
he  remained  until  1848.  He  then  removed  to  St.  John's,  New 
Brunswick,  at  which  place  he  organized  a  Free  Church  congregation, 
and  built  the  first  church  of  the  kind  in  the  lower  provinces.  In 
1850  he  received  and  declined  a  call  to  the  Associated  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Grand  street.  New  York ;  but  the  invitation 
being  renewed  in  the  following  j^ear,  he  accepted  it,  and  was  installed 
in  June,  1851.  This  congregation  was  organized  in  Nassau  street  in 
1784,  when  Mr.  Hamilton  was  pastor.  They  subsequently  worshiped 
on  the  corner  of  Grand  and  Mercer  streets,  but  after  the  installation 
of  Dr.  Thomson  removed  to  the  edifice  on  the  corner  of  Grand  and 
Crosby  streets,  which  was  purchased  of  the  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion under  the  pastorship  of  Rev.  Dr.  McElroy.  A  few  years  since 
the  congregation  sold  the  Grand  street  property  for  largely  over  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  erected  a  fine  edifice  on  Thirty-fourth 
street,  near  Sixth  avenue  and  Broadway. 

They  are  largely  composed  of  old  country  people,  and  number 
about  one  hundred  families  and  some  four  hundred  members.   In  1861 

Dr.  Thomson  accepted  a  call  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at 

573 


REV.   JOHN  THOMSON,   D.  D. 

Gait,  in  Canada,  West,  then  the  largest  church  of  the  denomination  in 
that  section  of  the  country.  In  May,  1864,  he  returned  to  his  foi-mer 
people  in  New  York,  and  still  remains  with  them.  Ilis  degree  of 
D.  D.  was  received  from  Princeton  Seminary  in  1854.  He  has 
published  various  sermons  and  addresses,  some  of  which  have 
attracted  considei-able  attention  abroad.  We  may  mention  that  Dr. 
Thomson's  manuscript  sermons  are  little  less  than  chirographic 
curiosities.  So  minute  and  careful  is  the  writing  that  in  some  in- 
stances an  entire  sermon  only  covers  a  single  letter  shoe  .  How  such 
cramped  and  delicate  writing  is  deciphered  in  a  public  delivcrv  is 
quite  astonisliing.  Most  of  the  clergy,  lilce  other  public  speakers, 
prepare  their  manuscripts  in  a  bold,  clear  hand,  and  some  sermons 
have  fallen  under  our  observation  which  were  written  in  letters  of  not 
less  than  half  an  inch  long. 

Dr.  Thomson  is  of  the  medium  height,  and  rather  full  though 
not  ungraceful  proportions.  He  is  muscular,  and  altogether  of  the 
strong,  well-knit,  substantial  frame  so  common  among  the  Scottish 
race.  His  head  is  largo  and  round,  with  a  fine  intellectual  develop- 
ment and  a  countenance  expressive  of  rigid  decision  of  character, 
but  at  the  same  time  of  much  Christian  frankness.  It  is  just  such  a 
face  as  martyrs  wear — one  of  those  that  power  and  dungeons  and 
fagots  could  not  soften  in  a  single  expression  of  firmness  and  devotion 
to  duty,  and  still  one  that  is  always  radiant  with  the  beams  of  a 
Heaven-inspired  kindness.  You  will  say  in  an  instant,  from  these 
features,  here  is  a  man  for  great  resolution,  for  sincerity,  and  zeal 
of  purpose,  and  true  heroism  under  difficulties,  and,  after  all,  with  a 
heart  as  gentle  as  a  woman's,  and  a  love  as  pure  and  as  faithful  as 
hers.  He  is  a  deeply  pious  man  and  an  unflinching  Christian,  and 
while  in  the  practice  of  his  faith  he  knows  but  one  plain,  strict,  severe 
line  of  duty,  he  is  also  taught  by  it  a  meekness  and  sympathy  ot 
heart  which  are  quite  as  much  the  rule  of  his  life.  His  manners  are 
polite  and  his  conversation  is  free,  but  he  has  in  both  a  seriousness 
natural  to  a  person  as  thoi'oughly  absorbed  as  himself  in  the  ministe- 
rial work.  His  thoughts  have  but  one  tendency,  and  that  is  to  the 
most  earnest  and  continued  contemplation  of  religion.  He  is  out- 
spoken in  his  opinions,  and  iias  considerable  of  that  bluntness  which 
is  also  a  Scotch  chai-acteristic. 

Dr.  Thomson  preaches  very  eflPectively.  An  excellent  scholar, 
and  perfectly  versed  in  the  Scriptures,  he  delivers  himself  with  as 
much  freedom  of  speech  as  depth  of  thought,  and  with  a  pleasing 

574 


REV.     JOHN     THOMSON,     D.  D. 

animation.  His  gestures  are  few  and  of  the  simplest  kind  ;  but  his 
whole  manner  is  greatly  calculated  to  give  additional  impressiveness 
to  his  religious  reasonings.  He  never  departs  from  a  plain,  ar- 
gumentative, illustrative  style,  and  liis  language,  always  well  chosen, 
is  particularly  forcible  in  giving  a  clear  and  striking  view  at  once  of 
man's  debasement  and  God's  glory.  In  truth,  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
believes  and  preaches  "  the  steep  and  thorny  way  to  Heaven  "  in  its 
fullest  and  most  terrible  meaning.  Proclaiming  the  wonderful  mercy 
of  the  Most  High  and  offering  praise  to  His  name,  this  stern  religion- 
ist calml}'  declares  to  his  fellow  mortals  the  mandate  against  the  ac- 
cursed— "  Upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  thou  shalt  eat  all 
the  days  of  thy  life."  He  presents  a  faith  which  it  is  as  hard  to 
attain  as  fearful  to  neglect,  and  which  arraigns  the  soul  of  the  fallen 
creature  charged  with  a  guilt  beyond  human  comprehension  and 
human  repentance.  Holding  these  views  as  Gospel  truths,  the  ancient 
Presbyterians  of  Scotland  verified  their  fidelity  to  them  by  lives  of 
strict  discipline,  and  by  a  written  covenant  which  the  horrors  of  per- 
secution only  made  more  sacred.  After  two  centuries  and  upward, 
their  descendants  in  this  far-off  land  stand  as  true  in  doctrine  and  as 
earnest  in  maintaining  it.  Dr.  Thomson  has  all  the  stubbornness  of 
conviction  and  enthusiastic  adherence  to  his  religious  principles  which 
characterized  the  olden  Covenanters,  and,  like  them,  he  preaches  for 
heavenly  and  not  earthly  approval.  Asking  nothing  of  men  but 
quick  repentance  and  lives  of  penitence,  he  walks  among  them  in 
that  manner  most  likely  to  ensure  him  success,  and  his  hoped-for 
reward  hereafter. 

575 


KEY.  GEORGE  E.    THEALL, 

ONE   OF   THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  CHURCH  UNION, 

NEW    YOKIt. 


EV.   GEORGE    E.   THRALL   was  born  at  Circlcville, 

Ohio,  April  28d,  1829.  He  was  graduated  at  Kenyon 
College,  Gambler,  Ohio,  in  1849,  and  at  the  Virginia 
Theological  Seminary,  near  Alexandria,  in  1854.  Im- 
mediately after  graduation  lie  was  made  a  deacon  of  the 
iscopal  Church,  by  Bishop  Meade,  of  Virginia,  at  Christ 
Church,  Alexandria,  and  in  the  following  year  he  was  admitted 
to  the  priesthood,  by  Bisljop  Lee,  of  Delaware,  at  the  Church  of  the 
Epiphany,  Philadelphia,  where  he  had  already  settled  as  assistant  of 
the  late  Rev.  Dudley  A.  Tyng.  Mr.  Thrall  withdrew  from  the 
parish  after  a  service  of  two  years  and  three  months.  He  became 
rector  of  Christ  Church,  Bridgeport,  October  1st,  1859,  and  thus  con- 
tinued nearly  three  years,  when,  June  1st,  1862,  he  assumed  the 
rectorship  of  the  Church   of  the  Messiah,   Brooklyn. 

Mr.  Thrall  labored  in  the  parish  of  the  Messiah  for  ten  years. 
His  home  became  a  resort  for  clergymen  of  all  branches  of  the 
Church,  and  various  plans  were  laid  for  effecting  a  closer  fraternity 
between  the  different  denominations.  As  the  Lord's  table  was  con- 
sidered the  true  center  of  fellowship,  the  scheme  of  .Union  Com- 
munions was  hit  upon.  The  first  one  was  held  in  the  Ref  )rmed 
Church  in  Fifth  avenue  and  Twenty-ninth  street,  New  York.  The 
second  was  held  in  the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  and  was  considered  by 
all  present  as  one  of  the  most  heavenly  meetings  ever  witnessed  upon 
earth.  The  Union  Communions  have  since  been  held  in  hundred  of 
towns  and  villages  throughout  the  country. 

The  main  idea  of  the  Christian  Union  Brethren  was,  that  all  the 
believers  of  any  given  locality  formed  the  Church  of  that  locality  ; 
and  that,  however,  numerous  were  the  societies,  or  varied  the  forms 
of  worship,  tliere  was  really  but  one  Church  in  any  one  place. 

576 


KEY.     GEORGE    E.     THRALL. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle,  a  convention  of  the  Church  of 
Brooklyn  was  called  upon  the  evening  of  the  28th  of  June,  1866,  at 
the  Eeformed  Church  on  the  Heights.  The  spacious  edifice  was 
crowded  with  ministers  and  delegates  from  nearly  all  the  Protestant 
congregations  of  the  city,  and  the  proceedings  were  entirely  harmo- 
nious, until  discord  was  introduced  on  the  subject  of  Baptism.  The 
assembly  dispersed  in  great  sadness,  and  it  was  felt  that  Unity  was 
impossible  until  that  question  could  in  some  way  be  arranged. 

Several  newspapers  have  been  started.  The  Church  Union,  of 
which  Mr.  Thrall  is  one  of  the  editors,  is  the  organ  of  the  movement. 

Mr.  Thrall,  having  been  always  a  warm  advocate  of  congregational 
singing,  in  1867  edited  a  book,  intended  to  popularize  the  music  of 
the  sanctuary.  It  was  an  octavo  of  600  pages,  and  called  "  The 
Episcopal  Common  Praise,'"  and  has  had  several  editions. 

In  the  years  1867  and  1868  active  measures  began  to  be  taken  by 
many  clergymen  for  a  revision  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  with 
a  view  to  bringing  its  ritual  more  into  harmony  with  the  worship  of 
other  Protestant  denominations.  A  committee  having  been  formed 
by  the  Low  Church  party  to  propose  such  a  revision,  Mr.  Thrall  was 
appointed  the  Secretary,  and  from  that  time  devoted  his  efforts  to 
the  furtherance  of  that  project.  Obstacles  of  every  kind  intervened. 
Different  parties  took  up  the  task  and  laid  it  aside,  and  it  was  soon 
found  that  participation  in  this  work  sacrificed  one's  influence  and 
prospects  forever  in  that  communion.  At  last  the  labor  fell  into  the 
hands  of  a  few  who  were  willing  to  give  up  everything  for  its  succesa 
The  Revision  was  amended  over  and  over  again,  and  finally  took  the 
shape,  not  as  originally  intended,  of  a  Manual  for  Evangelical  Epis- 
copalians, but  of  a  form  of  service  for  all  Christians  who  desired  a 
Protestant  Liturgy.  It  was  called  "The  Union  Prayer  Book,"  and 
by  removing  all  the  expressions  which  savored  of  Romanism,  by 
presenting  an  episcopacy  extremely  modified,  by  reducing  infant 
baptism  to  a  consecration  of  children  to  the  Lord,  it  aimed  to  be 
nothing  less  than  a  platform  upon  which  all  Protestant  Christians 
could  unite  in  offering  up  prayer  and  praise  to  their  Heavenly 
Father. 

In  anticipation  of  this  result,  Mr.  Thrall  resigned  the  Church  of 
Messiah  in  April,  1869,  and  removing  to  New  York,  began  the 
formation  of  a  new  church.  This  society  met  for  a  time  in  a  school- 
room, and  in   1870  erected  the  building,  called  Emmanuel  Church, 

on  Fifty-seventh  street,  near  Lexington  avenue.     Service  was  first 

577 


REV.     GEOEGE    E.     THRALL. 

held  in  it  in  January,  1871,  and  upon  the  first  Sunday  in  September 
of  that  year  the  new  Union  Prayer  Bool<:,  which  had  come  from  the 
publishers  the  day  before,  was  introduced  as  the  form  of  worship, 
Mr.  Thrall  having  previously  sent  in  his  resignation  to  Bishop  Potter 
as  a  Presbyter  of  the  Episcopal  church. 

The  public  were  not,  however,  prepared  for  the  movement,  and 
the  society,  falling  into  debt,  were  forced  to  give  up  their  building, 
and  eventually  disband. 

Mr.  Thrall  then  turned  his  attention  to  the  building  up  of  a 
newspaper,  which  should  promote  the  principles  to  which  he  had 
devoted  his  life.  After  different  changes  he  established  his  present 
paper. 

Mr.  Thrall  is  of  the  medium  stature,  equally  proportioned,  and 
active.  His  head  is  of  fair  size,  with  an  intelligent,  amiable  face. 
He  has  dark  hair  and  whiskers,  and  his  whole  appearance  is  that  of 
good  health  and  vigorous  energies.  His  manners  are  without  osten- 
tation or  reserve,  and  all  who  approach  him  are  frankly  and  sincerely 
received.  You  immediately  discover  that  he  is  a  man  wholly  natural 
in  manners  and  feelings.  What  nature  made  him  he  is  in  every 
word  and  action.  Affectation,  any  assumption  of  dignity,  and  all 
those  exploits  of  deportment  by  which  men  impress  and  dumbfound 
their  fellows,  are  his  abhorrence.  An  honest  man,  an  unassuming 
gentleman,  an  humble  clergyman — these,  and  these  alone,  are  the 
individualities  which  he  seeks  to  represent.  One  look  at  him,  and 
the  fewest  possible  words,  proclaim  all  this  to  you  ;  and  the  longer 
you  know  him  and  the  better  you  test  him,  the  higher  does  be  rise  in 
the  scale  of  a  true  and  exemplary,  while  modest  manhood. 

Mr.  Thrall  is  a  clear  and  forcible  writer.  He  is  well  calculated  to 
do  a  large  amount  of  valuable  service  as  a  clergyman  without  making 
much  noise  about  it.  He  has  no  sensation  sermons,  no  courting  of  one 
interest  or  another — nothing,  in  a  word,  but  God's  word  to  speak  and 
■  God's  work  to  do.  His  sermons  have  a  vividness  of  truth  and  a 
gentleness  of  persuasion  which  are  quite  as  striking.  He  speaks  in  a 
clear,  flowing  voice,  with  an  easy  and  impressive  manner.  Making 
it  his  whole  effort  to  exalt  his  calling  rather  than  obtrude  any  talents 
of  his  own  for  men's  applause,  he  really  presents  the  strongest  claim 
to  private  regard  and  public  approbation.  Both  are  generously 
awarded  him. 

678 


REY.  ISAAC  H.  TUTTLE,  D.  D., 

riEC:roii  ojv>    err.    LXJ-itE'S  ei'iscopa.il.   cmxjiich, 

IVJE^V    YORK. 


lEY.  DR.  ISAAC  H.  TUTTLE  was  bom  in  the  city  of 
New  Haven  about  the  year  1816.  His  early  studies  were 
in  that  place  at  a  school  established  on  the  plan  of  Mr. 
Lancaster,  of  England,  and  conducted  by  John  E.  Lovell, 
author  of  a  work  on  elocution,  and  at  the  High  School  of  Amos 
^  Smith.  In  1836  he  was  graduated  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford, 
and  in  1839  at  the  General  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary,  New 
York.  He  was  made  deacon  during  the  same  year  by  Bishop 
Brownell,  at  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  and  priest  in  1840,  by  the 
same  bishop,  at  Christ  Church,  Bethlehem,  Connecticut.  His  first 
rectorship  was  at  this  church,  where  lie  remained  tive  years.  He 
then  went  to  Christ  Church,  Hudson,  New  York,  where  he  officiated 
six  years,  and  then,  in  June,  1850,  came  to  his  present  field  of  labor 
in  St.  Luke's  parish.  New  York. 

St.  Luke's  parish  is  one  of  the  old  Episcopal  congregations  of 
New  York.  At  the  time  of  its  foundation,  the  section  of  the  city 
where  it  is  located  was  known  as  the  village  of  Greenwich,  and  was 
a  rural  suburb,  though  now  far  down  town  and  densely  populated. 
The  first  preaching,  as  an  experiment  in  the  neighborhood,  was  by 
the  Rev.  George  Upfold,  in  the  school-room  of  Mr.  V.  Parker,  in 
Amos  street.  The  attendance  was  considerable,  and  the  friends  of 
the  undertaking  were  encouraged  to  organize  the  parish,  which  took 
place  November  6th,  1820,  with  twenty  persons.  Permission  was 
obtained  from  the  Common  Council  to  fit  up  the  second  story  of  the 
watch-house,  corner  of  Hudson  and  Christopher  streets,  for  church 
purposes,  where  the  communion  was  first  administered  on  Christmas 
day,  December  25th,  1820,  to  sixteen  individuals.  Dr.  Upfold  was 
called  as  rector  at  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars  a  year.  A  site 
for  a  church  on  Hudson  street  opposite  Barrow,  (now  Grove  street,) 

579 


REV.     ISAAC     H.     TUTTLE,    D.  D. 

tbe  present  location  of  St.  Luke's,  was  donated  to  the  parish  by 
Trinity  Church,  and  the  first  steps  toward  the  erection  of  a  suitable 
building  were  taken  in  Muy,  1821.  The  corner-stone  of  the  church 
was  laid  in  June,  1821,  by  Bishop  Hobart,  and  bore  the  following 
inscription:  "Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest!  St.  Luke's  Church, 
erected  A.  D.,  1821.  Eev.  George  Upfold,  D.  D.,  rector;  Clement 
C.  Moore,  Edward  N.  Cox,  church  wardens;  Nicholas  Eoorne,  Henry 
Ritter,  Andrew  Backus,  John  P.  Roome,  Floyd  Smith,  Henry 
Constantino,  Donald  Cushman,  William  H.  Hanm,  vestrymen  ;  John 
Heath,  architect;  Eichard  Kidney,  builder."  The  church  was  a 
small  building,  and,  being  completed,  was  consecrated  by  Bishop 
Hobart  in  May,  1822. 

The  immediate  rise  of  the  parish  was  prevented  by  the  want  of 
population  in  the  vicinity,  there  being  no  dwellings  to  accommodate 
them.  Among  the  records  of  the  church  appears  a  resolution  by 
which  it  is  recommended  that  capitalists  should  be  induced  to  build 
houses  in  that  section.  The  rector  leased  certain  lots  of  Trinity 
Church  at  a  low  rent,  and  in  1824-5  the  "  rectory  house"  and  another 
dwelling  were  erected.  After  a  time  Dr.  Upfold  made  an  arrange- 
ment to  officiate  a  part  of  his  time  in  Trinity  parish,  and  procured 
the  services  of  Eev.  Mr.  Doane,  subsequently  the  distinguished  and 
now  deceased  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  New  Jersey,  to  preach  alter- 
nately with  himself  at  St.  Luke's.  In  February,  1828,  Dr.  Upfold 
was  called  to  St.  Thomas'  parish,  St.  Luke's  at  the  time  having  one 
hundred  families.  Dr.  Upfold  is  now  Bishop  of  Indiana.  Eev.  Mr. 
Ives  was  the  next  rector,  and  was  called  at  a  later  period  to  bf 
Bishop  of  North  Carolina,  subsequentlj^  united  with  the  Eoman 
Catholic  church,  and  recently  died  in  New  York.  Bishop  Whitting- 
bam,  of  Maryland,  was  for  some  time  rector  of  the  parish,  and  was 
siicceeded  by  Eev.  Dr.  Forbes,  who  also  went,  for  a  time,  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church.  Dr.  Tuttle  was  the  next 
rector,  and  has  now  officiated  for  twenty-three  years.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  some  of  the  most  distinguished  names  in  the  Episcopal 
ministry  are  connected  with  the  history  of  this  venerable  parish. 

Dui'ing  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Tuttle  the  church  has  been  twice 
enlarged,  and  recently  has  been  modernized  and  decorated.  There 
are  about  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  communicants,  and  five 
hundred  and  seventy  children  in  the  Sunday  ScKool.  Connected 
with  the  parish  is  an  institution  known  as  St.  Luke's  Home,  which 
is  a  retreat  for  indigent  aged  Christian  women. 


REV.     ISAAC     H.     TUTTLE,     D.  D. 

Dr.  Tuttle  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Trinity  College  in 
1863. 

He  is  a  little  below  the  medium  height,  sparely  made^  but  stands 
very  erect,  and  has  a  quick  step.  His  head  is  small,  with  regular 
features,  and  a  forehead  which  shows  him  to  be  a  person  of  con- 
siderable mental  caliber.  In  his  manners  he  is  free  and  entirely  un- 
restrained, and  equally  frank  in  speech.  More  than  this,  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  cheerfulness  aboat  him,  and  he  has,  in  fact,  all  those 
qualities  which  do  most  to  promote  good  fellowship  in  social  inter- 
course. 

Social  life,  cultivated  though  it  may  be,  is,  after  all,  very  much 
like  a  den  of  half- tamed  animals.  The  laws  of  courtesy,  impartial 
and  strict  as  they  are,  have  really  less  potency  than  appeare  to  the 
casual  observer.  There  is  an  outward  show  of  civility  and  good 
feeling,  and  of  regard  for  the  demands  of  social  propriety ;  but  it  is 
to  a  considerable  extent  a  mere  cloak,  covering  up  hideous  sins  be- 
neath it.  Men  shake  hands  and  hate  each  other  in  their  hearts,  and 
women  kiss  and  trip  off  to  their  "school  for  scandal."  In  the  most 
brilliant  throngs,  every  demon  which  human  maligniity  and  envy 
can  summon  is  present  in  human  bosoms,  and  where  there  are  noble 
words  and  smiles  there  are  whispered  insults  and  sneers.  Few  men 
and  few  women  there  are  who  can  rise  to  a  perfection  of  courtesy 
and  charity,  which  will  keep  down  these  struggles  of  the  baser  nature 
to  do  evil  in  thought  or  act  to  our  neighbor.  Few  there  are  who 
can  be  called  popular  men  and  women,  because  they  are  silent  when 
they  cannot  praise. 

But  these  almost  strange  elements  of  character  are  fally  illustrated 
in  the  excellent  man  of  whom  we  write.  He  is  the  friend  and  de- 
lightful associate  of  all.  He  never  seems  to  be  looking  for  those 
foibles  and  weaknesses  which  in  social  life  are  the  targets  of  so  many 
jests  and  sneers.  But  he  is  genume  and  hearty  in  his  friendship  and 
love — manly  and  warm  in  his  greetings  and  attentions.  It  is  not 
the  shallow  courtesy  of  society — not  the  silken  paw  of  the  tiger  with 
the  claws  hidden  within — but  it  is  the  outpouring  of  the  honest 
heart.  It  is  not  that  hypocrisy  and  sham  which  every  day  are  dis- 
covered to  the  eyes  of  men  in  the  conduct  of  their  fellows,  and  which 
make  the  heart  sick,  but  it  is  that  kindness  and  nobleness  of  soul 
which  draw  man  to  man  in  the  true  brotherhood  of  his  race. 

Dr.  Tuttle  is  a  preacher  of  much  power  with  the  masses.  This 
does  not  come  from  any  particular  display,  but  from  the  same  pecu- 

08i 


REV.     ISAAC     H.     TUTTLE,     D.  D. 

liarities  of  character  which  are  observable  in  his  private  life.  His 
mode  of  address  is  entirely  moderate,  and  his  language  is  plain  while 
forcible.  But  his  greatest  influence  is  in  the  dispassionate,  calm, 
and  evidently  just  manner  in  which  he  makes  all  his  statements,  and 
the  tender  and  affectionate  manner  in  which  he  seeks  to  reach  the 
convictions  of  his  hearers.  It  is  not  to  the  superior  intelligence  of  a 
few,  or  to  the  keen  susceptibilities  of  others,  tlmt  he  appeals  with 
such  power,  but  it  is  to  all  those  who  have  an  aspiration  for  a  purer 
life,  or  a  stricter  observance  of  religious  duty.  He  does  not  preach 
to  dazzle  the  mind  or  to  stir  the  heart,  but  he  makes  beautiful  the 
way  of  faith,  and  tenderly  leads  the  steps  thitherwai-d.  Hence  the 
influence  of  his  preaching  is  boundless  with  such  as  are  found  in  the 
sanctuary. 

Dr.  Tuttle  in  his  rectorship  has  followed  a  line  of  illustrious 
clergymen  of  the  Episcopal  church.  They  marked  out  and  estab- 
lished a  work  in  St.  Luke's  parish  on  a  broad  foundation,  not  only 
of  religious  effort  but  of  public  good.  In  all  respects  he  has  followed 
in  their  footsteps,  and  neither  the  changes  of  population  nor  the  in- 
crease of  Episcopal  parishes  have  particularly  affected  this.  Strong 
in  numbers,  earnestly  engaged  in  its  educational  and  philanthropic 
work  for  the  advancement  of  every  interest  about  it,  there  has  been 
my  abatement  of  the  vigor  which  characterized  its  earlier  history. 

.582 


'•7 


X--«>> 


KEY.    STEPHEN  H.  TING,   D.  D.. 

RDECTOR,      OF      BT.      GEOROE'S      CHURCH,      I^fEIAV 

YORIt. 


EV.  DR.  STEPHEN  H.  TYNG  was  born  at  Newbuiy- 
port,  Mass.,  March  1st,  1800.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
was  graduated  at  Hai-vard  College,  and  for  two  years  was 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  He  began  the  study 
of  theology  under  Bishop  Griswold.  in  1819,  and  was  ordained 
a  deacon  of  the  Episcopal  church  at  Bristol,  Rhode  Island, 
March  4th,  1821.  He  labored  for  two  years  at  Georgetown,  D.  C, 
and  for  six  in  Queen  Anne's  parish,  Prince  George's  county,  Mary- 
land, In  May,  1829,  he  removed  to  Philadelphia,  and  became  rector 
of  St.  Paul's  Church.  The  degree  of  D.  D.  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  Jefferson  College  in  1832,  and  by  Harvard  in  1851.  In  1833  he 
was  called  to  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  in  Philadelphia.  The 
death  of  the  venerable  and  learned  Dr.  Milnor  having  created  a 
vacancy  in  St  George's  parish,  New  York,  Dr.  Tyng  succeeded  him 
in  1845,  and  still  remains  in  the  same  extended  field  of  duty.  After  a 
few  years  a  magnificent  church  was  constructed  on  the  corner  of 
Rutherford  Place  and  East  Sixteenth  street.  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng, 
Jun.,  is  a  distinguished  living  son.  Dr.  Tyng  has  a  number 
of  published  works,  the  variety  of  which  may  be  judged  by  the 
following  titles:  "Lectures  on  the  Law  and  Gospel,"  "  Recollections 
of  England,"  "Family  Commentary  on  the  Four  Gospels,"  "History 
of  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,"  "Esther,  the  Queen  of  Persia,"  "The  Child 
of  Prayer  "  (a  memorial  to  his  son.  Rev.  Dudley  A.  Tyng),  "  Forty 
Years'  Experience  in  Sunday  Schools,"  &c.,  &c. 

During  twenty-one  years  of  the  existence  of  St.  George's  Sunday 
school  in  this  city,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  that  organi- 
zation raised  and  disbursed  $63,985,  including  the  building  of  two 
churches  in  Africa — one  in  Monrovia,  of  stone,  and  one  in  Caldwell^ 
of  brick,  $12,000 ;  building  and  furnishing  the  chapel  of  Free  Grace  in 
East  Nineteenth  street,  $18,000 ;  building  and  fui-nishing  the  German 

583 


EEV.     STEPHEN     H.     TYNG,     D.  D. 

chapel  in  Fourteenth  street,  together  with  the  purchase  of  the  lot  on 
which  it  stands,  $12,000 ;  building  two  schoolhouses  in  Africa,  one 
at  Monrovia,  and  one  at  Caldwell,  $1,500 ;  annual  support  of  the 
parish  missions  of  St.  George's  Church,  including  the  Mission  Schools' 
contributions  to  anniversaries,  always  returned  to  them,  $7,500;  all 
the  chancel  furniture  of  St,  George's  Cluu'ch,  when  it  was  rebuilt^ 
including  the  pulpit,  desk  and  font,  and  partly  the  clock,  $9,000  , 
domestic  missions  in  the  United  States,  through  the  American  Church 
Missionary  Society,  $1,500 ;  The  Shepherd's  Fold,  an  institution  for 
poor  infant  children,  in  Eighty-sixth  street  and  Second  avenue, 
$1,300  ;  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry,  $500;  incidentals, 
$1,185.  The  parish  embraces  a  congregation  large,  wealthy,  and  in- 
fluential. 

Dr.  Tyng  is  one  of  the  most  learned  and  eloquent  men  in  the 
Episcopal  church.  His  mind,  of  such  ripeness  in  mere  youth,  has 
constantly  expanded  under  the  twin  benefits  of  research  and  experi- 
ence. While  he  has  sought  to  sip  the  sweets  of  popularity,  he 
has  made  learning,  piety,  and  zeal  the  foundation  of  his  renown ; 
consequently  his  studies  have  been  most  diligent  throughout  his 
career,  and  his  gladness  is  to  know  that  they  can  never  be  completed 
in  the  period  of  a  human  life.  As  with  other  scholars,  the  explora- 
tion of  one  mine  of  lore  only  opens  the  path  to  other  treasures 
beyond.  Dr.  Tyng  has  not  been  satisfied  with  theological  studies 
alone,  and  is  a  man  of  varied  learning.  The  theories  of  government 
and  the  history  of  empires  have  greatly  commanded  his  attention, 
and  to  such  a  degree  that  he  is  of  the  few  Episcopal  clergymen  who 
have  mingled  in  the  political  discussions  of  the  day.  In  this  matter, 
as  in  all  others,  he  is  firm,  earnest,  and  conscientious.  Convinced 
in  his  own  mind  of  the  propriety,  wisdom,  and  importance  of  any 
line  of  action,  it  requires  overpowering  reasons  to  alter  his  purpose. 
He  is  borne  on  a  tide  of  enthusiasm.  New  reasons  to  sustain  him 
come  every  day  like  favoring  winds,  and  his  eye  is  ever  watching  for 
the  haven  which  his  convictions  have  promised  him.  He  is  slow  to 
launch  himself  upon  any  untried  sea  of  opinion ;  but,  once  afloat,  he 
will  courageously  breast  the  wildest  storm. 

But  the  love  and  heartiest  enthusiasm  of  Dr.  Tyng  is  of  course 
for  his  particular  faith.  He  is  in  no  measure  a  bigot,  but  is  joyous 
beyond  expression  that  he  stands  a  believer,  a  member,  and  a 
preacher  within  the  pale  of  the  Episcopal  church.    Her  doctrines  are 

his  sure  anchor,  her  example  is  his  boast,  her  history  is  the  record 

584 


REV.      STEPHEN     H  .      T  Y  N  G ,      D.  D. 

of  God's  own  work,  and  her  glory  is  the  brightness  of  the  earth.  He 
has  followed  every  foot-print  of  the  Lord ;  he  has  walked  in  triumph 
and  trial  with  the  apostles  and  martyrs ;  he  has  marked  the  progress 
of  the  modern  church,  and  now  raises  his  voice  to  glorify  her  faith, 
and,  appointed  by  that  Lord  and  anointed  by  those  saints,  he  pro- 
claims himself  her  ambassador  to  men.  With  a  heart  made  tender 
by  penitence,  he  binds  up  the  wounds  of  those  seeking  religious 
healing,  and  with  a  soul  inspired  of  Heaven  he  beats  his  blows  upon 
Satan,  The  heart  of  the  poor  sinner,  the  seeker  for  Christ,  is  a  lost 
jewel  to  be  saved  for  the  crown  of  the  church  ;  but  the  head  of  the 
devil  must  be  bruised  and  slashed  with  the  sword  of  the  Deity,  In 
this  work  Dr.  Tyng  never  falters.  No  discouragements  affect  him, 
no  monster  of  sin  can  intimidate  him.  He  is  always  searching  the 
battle-field  of  life's  conflicts  for  the  maimed  and  dying — day  and 
night  he  is  crossing  weapons  with  the  adversar}'.  His  is  eminently  a 
successful  ministry,  illustrated  all  along  by  souls  re-born,  and  by  an 
unweariness  in  well-doing. 

Observe  Di*.  Tyng  in  his  pulpit.  He  is  a  straight,  stiff-appearing 
person,  with  a  composed  countenance  and  penetrating  eyes.  His 
forehead  is  broad ;  and  the  whole  molding  of  his  head  hig'ily  in- 
tellectual. He  at  once  impresses  a  stranger  as  being  a  man  of  re- 
markable ability,  and  a  single  sentence  from  him  is  sufficient  to  prove 
it  His  words  are  sentences,  his  sentences  are  sermons,  his  sermons 
are  volumes.  Thei-e  is  no  effort  for  effect  in  his  language,  no  studied 
selection  of  words,  no  obtuseness  as  to  meaning ;  but  in  the  discussion 
of  his  themes  his  pen  seems  to  cull  the  most  expressive  words  in 
which  are  traced  the  most  vigorous  and  beautiful  thoughts,  adapted 
as  much  to  the  comprehension  of  the  child  as  to  the  enlightenment 
of  the  matured  person.  He  is  formal  both  in  matter  and  manner, 
and  is  rather  a  reader  than  an  orator.  To  be  sure  he  is  eloquent  He 
uses  imagery,  and  is  warmer  at  times  than  at  others  ;  but,  neverthe- 
less, he  does  not,  like  some  who  are  true  orators,  soar  away,  with 
voice  and  sense  and  soul,  into  the  regions  which  his  thought  is  de- 
scribing. With  Dr.  Tyng,  the  deliveiy  of  a  sermon  is  an  effective, 
eloquent  reading,  rather  than  anything  which  might  be  considered  an 
oratorical  display.  He  has  great  dignity  of  bearing,  a  smooth  but 
decided  voice,  polished  periods,  and  sterling  thought;  but  there  is 
none  of  that  lightning  of  the  tongue  which  flashes  from  perception 
to  perception,  or  of  that  thunder  which  startles  down  into  the  very 
soul.     The  doctor  follows  the  more  sedate  pulpit  style  usual  and^ 

585 


REV.      STEPHEN     H.      TYNG,     D.  D. 

popular  in  the  Episcopal  churcli.  His  cliaste  words,  urged  witli 
sincerity,  devotedness,  and  piety,  fall  rich  fruit  to  the  inquirer,  the 
devout,  and  the  intellectual.  To  the  first,  they  malce  light  from 
darkness ;  to  the  second,  they  invigorate  with  strengthened  hope  ; 
and  to  the  third,  they  are  the  luscious  product  of  the  tree  of  scholar- 
si  li  p. 

But  when  Dr.  Tyng  puts  aside  his  gown,  and  steps  out  on  the 
platform  for  secular  speech-making,  he  is  a  new  man.  He  is  not 
walled  about  by  church  discipline  or  Episcopalian  propriety,  and  he 
is  not  tied  tongue  and  hands  by  forms  and  customs.  Well,  he  stands 
up  as  straight  as  an  arrow,  and  as  stiff  as  his  own  well-starched  shirt- 
collar.  His  eyes  see  everything  and  everybody :  his  look  hushes  the 
audience  into  the  stillness  of  the  tomb  ;  and  his  introductory  words 
are  well  measured.  Presently  the  words  flow  quicker  and  his  feel- 
ings begin  to  act  like  i'uel  to  thaw  the  ice  in  which  the  church  has 
congealed  liim.  He  has  humor,  sarcasm,  denunciation,  electrical 
words  and  gestures.  He  mangles  sophistries  with  his  tongue  as  a 
wolf  would  a  lamb  ;  he  sweeps  away  resistance  as  water-falls  do 
chips  of  wood  ;  he  spurns  wrong-minded  men  as  kings  do  beggars. 

At  seventy-three  years,  Dr.  Tyng  finds  himself  thus  vigorous  for 
labor  in  the  church  and  the  world.  In  his  prime  of  intellectual 
power,  mighty  with  all  the  influence  which  his  public  and  exalted 
life  has  brought  to  him,  he  may  well  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most 
useful  clergymen  of  the  day.  All  enterprises  of  his  church — those 
of  charity,  philanthropy,  and  education — have  in  him  a  zealous 
friend.  The  Sunday  school  is  another  delight.  He  was  greatly 
enwrapt  in  a  talented  son,  who,  although  young,  was  prominent  in 
the  ministiy,  and  who  came  to  his  death  by  a  heart-rending  ac- 
cident. His  memory  is  embalmed  in  the  affecting  and  eloquent 
memorial  of  his  father,  to  whom  his  decease  was  an  almost  over- 
powering blow.  The  son  was  a  model  of  manly  and  Christian 
graces,  acquired  by  a  close  study  of  the  example  of  the  father ;  and 
the  shadow  which  fell  upon  the  life  of  the  last  is  even  now  only  re- 
moved by  the  monuments  which  remain  of  the  young  minister's 
faith  and  works,  and  more  especially  by  his  brilliant  flight  from 
earth.  Looking  to  that  coming  hour  in  his  own  destiny.  Dr.  Tyng 
has  but  one  purpose  in  all  his  efforts,  which  is,  so  to  guide  his  stej)s 
that  his  end  may  be  peaceful  and  triumphant,  like  that  of  the  saint 

who  has  gone  before. 

J86 


KEY.  STEPHEN  H.  TYNG,  JR.,  D.  D., 

KECTOR      OF      THE     CHUrtCn      OE      THE      H01L.Y 
TRIIVITY    {EI»ISCOr»A.X.),    :iVE\^     YOUIt. 


EV.  DR.  STEPHEN  H.  TYNG,  JR.,  is  the  son  of  the 

distinguished  rector  of  St.  George's  Chapel,  New  York, 
and  brother  of  the  late  Rev.  Dudley  A.  Tyng,  a  leading 
rector  of  Philadelphia,  who  lost  his  life  by  an  accident 
was  born  in  Philadelphia,  June  28th,  1839.  Entering 
Williams  College  he  was  graduated  in  1858,  and  would  have 
completed  his  theological  course  at  the  Episcopal  Seminary  in  Fair- 
fax county,  Va.,  had  not  the  opening  of  the  war  obliged  him  to  leave 
the  State.  During  his  theological  studies  he  had  charge  of  a  Mission 
church  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.  He  was  ordained  deacon  May  8th, 
1S61,  at  St  George's  Chapel,  and  priest  at  Poughkeepsie,  September 
11th,  1868.  From  May,  1861,  to  May,  1862,  he  was  assistant  to  his 
father,  and  then  accejDted  the  rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the 
Mediator.  He  subsequently  organized  a  new  parish  up  town,  under 
the  title  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  a  tasteful  edifice 
was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Forty -second  street  and  Madison  avenue, 
and  consecrated  in  1865.  He  soon  gathered  a  numerous  and  in- 
fluential congregation. 

Early  in  1873  the  old  church  was  torn  down,  and  on  Trinity 
Sunday,  June  8th,  1873,  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  imposing 
edifice  of  the  congregation  on  the  same  site  was  laid.  At  the  last 
meeting  in  the  old  church  Dr.  Tyng  gave  the  following  statement  of 
the  work  of  the  church  since  their  organization : — baptisms,  768 ; 
confirmations,  511 ;  funerals,  438 ;  marriages,  212 ;  communicants, 
],300  ;  Sunday  school  children  ynd  teachers,  1,863  ;  contributions  to 
the  poor  and  general  offerings,  $18,529  ;  domestic  missions,  $11,464; 
and  all  collections  made  during  the  nine  years,  $519,000. 

They  support  five  mission  churches  in  different  parts  of  the  city, 
and  also  maintain  a  college,  or  "  House  of  the  Evangelists,"  for  the 
education  of  young  men  for  the  city  mission  work.     These  enter- 

587 


REV.     STEPHEN     H.     TYNG,     JR.,     D.  D. 

prises  cost  the  Cburcli  of  the  Iloly  Trinity  about  twenty  thousand 
doHai's  annually,  to  which  also  must  be  added  a  dispensary  connected 
with  the  church,  which  is  supported  at  a  cost  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  a  year,  and  where  two  physicians  give  advice  and  medicine 
freely  day  by  day.  Several  beds  in  St.  Luke's  Hospital  are  also  en- 
dowed by  this  church.  The  "Pastoral  Aid  Society"  comprises 
nearly  all  the  membership  of  tlje  church,  male  and  female. 

As  chaplain  of  the  Twelfth  Eegiment,  N.  Y.  S.  M.,  Dr.  Tyng 
accompanied  the  regiment  to  Harrisburg,  when  the  New  York  troops 
were  called  to  the  defence  of  the  border. 

Dr.  Tyng  was  reported  to  the  standing  committee  of  his  diocese, 
charged  by  a  New  Jersey  rector  with  having  preached  in  the  parish 
of  said  rector  without  his  consent,  in  violation  of  a  canon  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  After  trial,  he  was  publicly  censured  by  the 
Bishop.  This  matter,  however,  has  in  no  way  affected  Dr.  Tyng's 
character  or  influence. 

Dr.  Tvng  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Williams  College  in 
July,  1872. 

He  is  about  of  the  average  height,  and  equally  proportioned. 
His  complexion  is  fair,  and  Ids  cheeks  are  ruddy  with  youthfulness 
and  health.  He  has  a  peculiarly  expressive,  beaming  face,  and  a 
bright,  intelligent  eye,  which  reflects  every  thought.  He  is  of  a 
quick,  nervous  temperament,  and  very  zealous  in  his  Christian  work. 
He  has  genial,  fascinating  manners,  and  there  is  a  frankness  and 
sincerity  about  him  which  secure  fast  friendships.  Vf  hile  as  a  young- 
man  of  talent  he  is  not  at  all  backward  or  awkward  in  any  position, 
still  he  always  conducts  himself  with  dignity  and  deference  for  his 
elders. 

As  a  preacher  he  is  decidedly  able.  It  is  fully  evident  that  his 
desire  is  to  establish  a  fame  based  on  substantial  acquirements  rather 
than  sensational  eccentricities.  He  has  been  and  is  a  painstaking 
student,  and  modesty  as  to  his  own  merits  is  a  most  conspicuous 
characteristic.  He  is  ambitious  and  not  at  all  loth  to  press  forward 
to  places  of  dignity  and  preferment  in  his  profession,  but  advance- 
ment is  not  sought  without  he  proves  his  qualifications  and  claims 
for  it  Of  a  bold,  impulsive  spirit,  he  is  free  with  his  opinions  and 
unsparing  in  his  rebuke  of  all  sinfulness,  but  at  the  same  time  he  is 
careful  to  guard  himself  against  everything  like  presumption,  ar- 
rogance, and  self-sufficiency.  He  recognizes  the  important  fact,  which 
is  lost  sight  of  by  so  many  young  clergymen,  that  he  has  a  present 

588 


REV.     STEPHEN     H.      TYNG,     JR.,     D.  D. 

station  becoming  to  his  years  and  ability,  which  it  is  altogether  honor- 
able to  fill  meritoriously.  Exerting  all  his  talents,  and  still  showing 
a  most  humble  appreciation  of  them,  he  best  proves  how  capable  he 
will  be  when  he  shall  wield  the  full  strength  which  he  is  gathering. 

Dr.  Tyng  is  one  of  the  most  acceptable  readers  of  the  church 
service  in  the  New  York  pulpit  He  reads  with  eloquent  intonation, 
and  imparts  to  it  great  fervor — it  seems  a  pleasing  and  holy  occu- 
pation with  him,  and  in  the  prayers  especially  he  appears  to  rise 
away  into  celestial  realms.  To  the  young  Chiistian  enthusiast  the 
service  certamly  presents  a  most  touching  appeal  to  all  the  sus- 
ceptibilities of  the  believing  heart,  and  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Tyng  the 
effect  is  to  render  his  delivery  almost  strangely  impressive.  lie  .moves 
with  his  own  soul  filled  with  kindred  emotions,  and  he  kindles  the 
inextinguishable  fires  of  faith.  This  power  over  the  the  feelings  of 
his  audience  is  not  lost  in  his  sermon  ;  there  is  the  same  earnestness, 
sincerity,  and  pious  seriousness.  Being  a  fluent  speaker,  often  much 
tliat  he  says  is  extempore — at  such  times  his  face  is  all  animation,  his 
soft,  persuasive  voice  steals  .to  every  heart,  and  he  pleads  with  the 
irresistible  powers  of  eloquence  and  religious  inspiration.  His  lan- 
guage does  not  degenei'ate  into  outbursts  of  poetic  rhapsody,  and  the 
misty  vaporings  of  an  undisciplined  mind,  but,  on  the  contraiy,  it  is 
practical,  logical,  and  convincing. 

Such  are  the  terms  in  which  it  is  proper  to  speak  of  this  talented 
young  clergyman.  He  is  a  patient  laborer  in  the  field  of  moral  and 
religious  duty  and  an  example  of  pure  and  lofty  virtues.  Time  and 
years  will  bring  him  matured  talent,  enlarged  experience,  and  in- 
creased influence,  but  the  present  period  has  been  made  illustrious  by 
the  exhibition  of  all  the  elements  of  a  sterling  Christian  character. 

589 


REY.  HENRY  J.  YAN  BYKE.  D.  D., 

rASTOK.     OF     THE     FIRST     I»11ESBYTEIIIA.1V 


""^EV.  DE.  HENRY  J.  VAN  DYKE  was  born  in  Mont- 
gomery county,  Pennsylvania,  March  2d,  1822.  He  was 
graduated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1843,  and 
also  studied  at  Yale  College.  His  theological  course  was 
concluded  at  Princeton  Seminary  in  1845,  and  his  ordination 
^  took  place  in  June  of  the  same  year.  He  was  installed  pastor 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Bridgeton,  New  Jersey,  where  he 
remained  until  compelled  to  leave,  from  ill  health,  in  1852,  In 
July  of  this  year  he  settled  in  Germantown,  and  remained  about  one 
year,  going  in  June,  1853,  to  Brooklyn,  to  become  pastor  of  his 
present  church,  the  First  Presbyterian,  one  of  the  former  Old  School 
churches.  Immediately  after  his  college  course  he  edited  a  collegi- 
ate magazine,  and  subsequently  contributed  to  various  literary  pub- 
lications. During  a  visit  to  Europe,  in  1857,  he  furnished  the  New 
York  Presbyterian  with  a  series  of  very  graphic  sketches  of  travel. 
His  congregation  has  largely  increased  under  his  ministry,  and  in 
the  same  period  a  debt  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  has  been  paid,  and 
some  sixty  thousand  dollars  contributed  for  benevolent  objects. 

On  the  even:"g  of  Sunday,  the  9th  of  December,  1860,  Dr.  Yan 
Dyke  preached  one  of  the  most  remarkable  sermons  ever  delivered 
in  the  American  pulpit,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Character  and  In- 
fluence of  Abolitionism."  The  murky  clouds  of  civil  strife  were 
already  stretching  across  the  political  firmament  of  great,  prosper- 
ous, and,  in  other  respects,  happy  America.  Geographical  antipa- 
tliies,  misrepresentations,  and  passion  had  combined  to  array  the 
North  and  South  in  an  attitude  of  dangerous  hostility.  At  this 
momentous  li  ur.  Dr.  Van  Dyke  stepped  forth  as  an  expounder  of 
the  Scriptures  on  the  subject  of  Slavery.  The  sermon  delivered  un- 
der these  impressive  circumstances  is  devoted  to  the  discussion  of 

four  points. 

5ao 


REY.     HENRY    J.     VAN    DYKE,    D.  D. 

"  I  have  four  distinct  propositions  on  the  subject  to  maintain,'* 
says  Dr.  Van  Dyke — "  four  thesis  to  nail  up  over  this  pulpit  and 
defend  with  the  word  of  God,  which  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit. 

"  I.  Abolitionis^ja  has  no  foundation  in  the  Scriptures. 

"  IL  Its  principles  have  been  ])romulgated  chiefly  by  misrepre- 
sentation and  abuse. 

"III.  It  leads,  in  a  multitude  of  cases,  and  by  a  logical  process, 
to  infidelity. 

"  IV.  It  is  the  chief  cause  of  the  strife  that  agitates,  and  the  dan- 
ger that  threatens  our  country." 

The  sermon  is  written  throughout  in  language  of  commanding 
power  and  lofty  eloquence.  It  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  coTiser- 
vatives  in  every  part  of  the  country.  They  claimed  that  the  whole 
question  in  regard  to  abolitionism  was  gone  over,  and  argued  with 
the  ability  of  the  scholar,  the  impassioned  fervor  of  the  orator,  and. 
the  zeal  of  the  true  pati'iot. 

The  discourse  was  reported  for  the  leading  papers,  and  extensively 
"republished  North  and  South.  A  committee  of  the  congregation 
requested  a  copy  for  publication  in  pamphlet  form,  and  the  first  edi- 
tion of  five  thousand  copies  was  immediately  exhausted.  The 
Messrs.  Appleton,  of  jSTew  York,  published  a  stereotyped  edition, 
and  other  editions  appeared  in  the  principal  cities.  In  all  there^  were 
eleven  pamphlet  editions,  and  it  was  published  in  full  in  more  than 
twenty  newspapers. 

It  received  much  critical  attention  from  the  abolitionists.  The 
Anti-Slavery  Standard  treated  its  reader  to  "  literal  extracts,"  as  the  ser- 
mon was  to  be  regarded  "as  an  illustration  of  the  popular  Christianity  of 
the  United  States — the  Christianity  for  rejecting  which  the  abolition- 
ists are  denounced  as  infidels."  Professor  Taylor  Lewis  opened  his 
batteries  in  the  New  York  World^  and  a  lengthy  discussion  arose 
between  himself  and  Dr.  Van  Djdce.  An  indignant  reply  was  made 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  of  New  Haven,  in  a  sermon  entitled 
"The  Jugglers  Detected." 

Other  published  sermons  by  Dr.  Van  Dyke  are  "  Moses,  the  Ser- 
vant of  the  Lord  ;  "  "  How  Old  art  Thou  ?  "  "  The  Commandment, 
with  Promise  ;  "  "  The  Conversion  of  Saul ;  "  "  Politics  for  Christ- 
mas ;  "  "  Giving  Thanks  for  All  Things  ;  "  "  The  Character  and 
Blessedness  of  the  Peacemaker."  These  sermons  all  show  much, 
originality  of  thought,  clearness  of  expression,  and  earnest  eloquence. 

In  1870  Dr.  Van  Dyke  was  prominent  in  the  movement  for  the 

591 


EEV.     HENRY    J.    VAN    DYKE,     D.  D. 

re-uniou  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
was  one  of  a  Committee  of  the  General  Assembly,  convened  at 
Philadelphia,  who  were  sent  to  the  General  Assembly  in  session  at 
Louisville.  As  is  well  known,  the  movement  was  a  failure.  Dr. 
Van  Dyke  published  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject.  In  all  the  assem- 
blages of  the  church  he  is  regarded  as  an  authority  on  doctrine  and 
discipline. 

Dui-ing  1872,  after  the  faithful  labors  of  nineteen  years,  he  re- 
signed his  pastorship  over  the  First  Church  of  Brooklyn,  and  accepted 
a  oall  to  a  leading  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nashville,  Tennessee. 
His  separation  from  his  old  congregation  was  characterized  by  intense 
feeling  of  grief  on  both  sides.  He  went  abroad  before  entering  per- 
manently upon  his  duties  in  Nashville,  and  on  his  return,  when 
about  to  undertake  them,  the  serious  ilhiess  of  his  wife  rendered  it 
necessary  for  him  to  remain  in  or  about  New  York.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  First  Church  innnediately  gave  him  a  call  to  re- 
sume his  pastorship  with  tliem,  which  he  finally  accepted.  Much  to 
the  advantage  of  all  parties,  the  former  relations  were  renewed,  pro- 
bably not  to  be  broken  again  in  the  lifetime  of  this  long-tried  shep- 
herd of  the  flock. 

Dr.  Van  Dyke  is  under  the  medium  height,  his  complexion  is 
pale,  and  he  wears  heavy  whiskers.  His  face  has  an  amiable,  cheerful 
expression,  and  when  animated  is  as  radiant  as  the  day.  His  look 
is  fixed  and  penetrating,  while  his  conversation  and  actions  evince 
quickness  and  impulsiveness.  He  is  very  cordial  with  all,  ardent  in 
his  friendship  and  sympathies,  and  has  a  courage  for  all  things 
which  is  sublime.  Those  who  know  him  best  say  he  is  a  modern 
John  Knox.  He  fears  only  God.  Armed  in  what  he  believes  to  be 
a  just  cause,  there  is  nothing  on  earth  that  can  intimidate  him.  Ca- 
lumny, insults,  threats  are  utterly  idle.  He  will  not  turn  or  yield 
a  hair's  breadth ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  keeps  more  strictly  and  de- 
fiantly in  the  path  he  has  chosen. 

He  is  a  very  effective  speaker.  His  voice  is  strong  and  harmo- 
nious, and  h^  displays  that  style  of  vigorous  reasoning  which  is  at 
once  proof  of  sincerity  and  ability.  A  man  of  a  thoroughly  religious 
nature  and  deeply  learned  in  the  Scriptures,  he  preaches  with  strik- 
ing powers  of  pathos  and  logic.  The  heart  is  melted,  and  the  head 
is  instructed  ;  you  are  lifted  into  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  the 
eloquent  speaker,  and  the  truths  of  salvation  fall  as  balm  upon  the 

tossed  and  wounded  souL 

592 


REY.  THOMAS  E.  YERMILYE,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

OIVE     OF     THE     P^STORl^    OF    THE    COEEEGItIlTE 
KEFOIt]VXEI>    CHXJUCH,    ]VET^    YORK!. 


EV.  DR.  THOMAS  E.  VERMILYE  was  born  in  the 
city  of  New  York  in  February,  1803.  He  was  graduated 
at  Yale  College  in  1821,  and  studied  theology  at  Prince- 
ton College.  He  was  licensed  as  a  Presbyterian  niinis- 
^  ter,  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  in  April,  1825,  and  after 
i^  ordination  by  the  same  Presbytery  he  was  installed  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Yandewater  street.  New  York,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1826.  In  May,  1830,  he  became  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  of  the  first  parish,  West  Springfield,  ]\Iass.,  and  in  May,  1835, 
he  settled  over  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  the  ciij 
of  Albany.  He  removed  to  New  York  in  1839,  to  take  the  position 
of  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Collegiate  Dutch  Church,  which  he  still 
holds,  standing  next  in  length  of  service  to  the  senior  pastor.  Rev. 
Dr.  De  Witt  He  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  both  from  Rutgers 
College  and  Union  College,  in  1836,  and  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from 
Jefferson  College,  in  1856.  He  has  published  various  occasional 
sermons.     He  preaches  in  each  of  the  churches  once  in  five  weeks. 

The  following  eloquent  extracts  are  from  a  discourse  commemora- 
tive of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Brownlee,  delivered  in  the  Middle 
Dutch  Chui-ch  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  February  19th,  1860. 
*******        «*****«* 

"On  the  Mount  of  Ascension  it  was  boldly  declared  to  the  awe-stricken  multi- 
tude, in  most  emphatic  words  :  '  This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into 
heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven.'  Now, 
these  and  kindred  passages  teach  us  several  truths  in  relation  to  this  subject.  As 
that  heaven,  far  distant  as  it  would  seem  from  the  atmosphere  of  our  earth,  is  yet 
a  place  which  such  a  body  as  Jesus  took  with  him  from  earth,  the  pattern  of  the 
resurrection  body,  can  inhabit.  Also,  that  from  that  place  Christ  shall  transfer  him- 
self to  earth  in  person  :  '  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend.'  Once  before  he  was 
personally  in  our  world,  the  babe  of  Bethlehem,  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  to  make  pro- 
pitiation for  sin.     But,  since  He  rose  from  Olivet,  no  mortal  eye  has  rested  upon 

593 


KEV.     THOMAS     E,     VERM  1  LYE,     D.  D.,    L  L.  D. 

that  glorious  form.  Ho  has  not,  indeed,  lost  interest  in  His  mediatorial  office,  noi 
forgotten  His  ransomed  ones  in  this  remote  region,  the  speck  amidst  the  assemblage 
of  worlds.  But  He  now  chooses  to  carry  on  His  work  by  subordinate  instrumental- 
ity :  sometimes  by  special  agents  raised  up  in  emergencies  of  His  providence  for 
deeds  of  special  significance,  biat  ordinarily  by  His  regular  ministers  and  the  ap- 
pointed means  of  grace.  But  then  these  means  will  have  accomplished  their 
purpose,  and  will  have  come  to  an  end.  He  will  delegate  none  of  His  ministering 
servants  nor  mighty  angels  to  stand  iu  His  place  ;  but,  attended  by  the  heavenly 
hosts,  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  shall  Himself  descend  to  close  the  scene  of  time 
and  earth,  and  bring  His  children  home  in  glory.  Again,  it  will  be  a  visible  ap- 
pearance. They  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  clouds.  An  objection  at 
once  occurs  to  the  mind  that,  should  the  Lord  ajapear  on  any  particular  part  of  the 
globe,  He  would  not  bs  seen  by  all  its  inhabitants,  but  only  by  a  very  small  number 
at  the  same  time.  But  it  is  not  said  He  shall  come  upon  the  earth,  but  that  the 
saints  shall  be  gathered  to  Him  in  the  air.  Nor  is  it  affirmed  that  all  shall  behold 
Him  at  the  same  instant  of  time.  It  is  not  improbable  that  this  spectacle  may  ap- 
pear successively  to  the  different  tribes  of  men,  as  the  earth  revolves  on  its  axis  ; 
that  the  raising  of  the  dead  and  the  process  of  judgment,  whatever  it  may  be,  then 
to  succeed  and  the  preparation  of  the  saints  for  their  ascent,  in  proper  order,  to  the 
air,  may  occupy  some  considerable  sjDace  of  time.  But,  however  this  may  be,  and 
we  are  left  very  much  to  conjecture  in  re.i.;ard  to  these  particulars,  it  is  i^ositively 
said  that  'evtry  eye  shall  see  Him,'  and  that  'all  kindreds  of  the  earth  shall  wail 
because  of  Him,'  Again,  it  will  be  sudden  and  unexpected — 'at  an  hour  when  ye 
think  not,'  saith  the  Scripture.  From  the  descrijition  given  by  the  Saviour,  we  may 
also  conclude  that  it  will  be  at  midnight,  '  when  mankind  are  wrapped  in  sleep.' 
And  it  will  be  ushered  in  with  the  pomp  of  a  mighty  retinue  of  angels,  and  accom- 
panying splendor  of  circumstances,  to  give  splendor  and  impressiveness  to  the  scene. 
At  that  period  the  business  and  pleasure  of  life  will  go  on  just  as  it  alwaj's  had 
done.  Men  will  eat  and  drink,  and  marry  and  be  given  in  marriage,  and  buj'  and 
sell  and  get  gain.  They  will  also  resign  themselves  on  that  night  to  sleeji,  in  full 
confidence  that  the  nightly  firmament  will  roll  away  its  myriads  of  stars,  and  that 
the  sun,  which,  for  thousands  of  years,  has  never  varied  its  course,  nor  withhold 
the  dawn,  will  bring  in  a  new  morning.  But  suddenly  the  watchman  beholds  a 
strange  sight !  Far  off  in  the  fields  of  si^ace,  unusual  light  appears.  It  hastens 
toward  the  earth,  and  as  it  comes  '  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man '  glares  out  from  the 
dark  background.  What  is  it?  It  is  a  vast  radiant  cross,  the  instrument  of  His 
sufferings,  now  turned  into  the  standard  of  victory,  that  all  may  recognize  the 
meaning  of  the  prodigy  !  The  vision  halts  in  the  air,  and  there  Jesus,  once  the 
Man  of  Sorrows,  now  the  King  and  Judge,  takes  his  place  :  the  attendant  angels 
•wheel  their  mighty  squadrons  into  line  to  grace  His  coming — from  the  innumerable 
throng  goes  up  'a  shout'  as  when  an  army  ru.shed  to  conquest — the  voice  of  the 
archangel  leader  and  the  trump  of  God  jieal  through  the  expanse,  and  that  night  is 
turned  into  '  such  a  day  as  earth  saw  never. ' 


"And  now  the  promise  of  Christ's  coming  is  redeemed.  Through  the  cycles  of 
intervening  ages  His  suffering  Church  longed  and  prayed  for  it.  From  the  stake, 
from  the  deep  dungeon,  from  the  caves  and  dens  of  the  earth,  whither  persecution 
had  driven  them,  went  up  the  bitter  cry— 'How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost 
Thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth.'     And  infi- 

594 


REV.     THOMAS     E.      VERMILYE,     D.  D.,    LL.U. 

dels  mocked  the  long  delay  and  scoifed  the  faith  of  the  saiuls,  saying  :  'Wheie  id 
the  promise  of  his  coming?'  And  He  seemed  not  to  regard  their  complaints,  nor 
did  he  send  deliverance  ;  and  disappointment  and  woe  sometimes  awakened  fcarfuJ 
doubts  ;  'Hath  God  forgotten  to  be  gracious?'  Is  this  Biblti  true?  Is  there  'a  God 
that  judgeth  iu  the  earth?'  Yet  He  was  faithful  that  had  promised,  although  His 
plan  must  be  develo^Ded  iu  the  aj^jioiuted  order.  And  now  the  days  of  man  on  earrh 
have  run  their  course — the  full  scheme  is  accomplished — the  set  time  has  come,  and 
there,  at  last,  He  is.  The  consummation,  the  destined  end  of  all  things,  is  at 
hand:  'lift  up  your  heads,  ye  saints,  and  sing,  for  your  redemption  drawuth 
nigh.'  " 

Dr.  Yermilye  is  now  a  well-preserved,  gray-Tiaired  gentleman  of 
seventy  years  of  age.  He  is  of  the  medium  stature,  compactly  built, 
and,  to  all  appearance,  still  hale  and  vigorous.  He  has  a  large,  round 
head,  with  handsome,  well-defined  features.  He  would  be  noticed 
in  any  assemblage  of  men  as  a  person  of  brilliant,  intellectual  capa- 
city. His  face  has  a  calm,  noble  expression,  and  he  has  that  dignified 
reserve  common  to  the  ministers  of  the  earlier  period.  Being  quite 
deaf,  he  naturally  gives  very  close  attention  to  any  remarks  made  to 
him,  and  his  face  has  a  serions  aspect,  but  when  himself  engaged  in 
conversation,  a  glow  of  animation  pervades  it.  At  all  times  he 
seems  to  incline  to  be  meditative,  and  he  delights  in  instructive  and 
scholarly  discourse,  though  he  is  not  uninfluenced  by  cheerful  and 
genial  associations.  He  is  a  man  of  deep  conscientiousness,  a  studied 
regard  for  propriety  in  all  things,  and  of  great  fixedness  of  purpose. 

Dr.  Vermilye  has  extensive  acquirements  as  a  theological  scholar, 
and  altogether  a  finely  cultivated  mind.  His  writings  are  charac- 
terized by  a  fascinating  purity  of  language  and  much  originality  of 
thouglit.  They  are  eloquent,  clear,  and  at  times  pathetic.  Coming 
from  a  mind  imaginative  as  well  as  logical,  they  exhibit  powerful 
reasoning  decked  in  the  attractive  garb  of  an  eloquent,  pleasing 
fancy.  There  is  an  entire  absence  of  everything  that  is  florid  and 
extravagant,  but  the  inspiration  of  a  majestic  eloquence  and  the  light 
of  a  glowing  imagination  are  present  in  every  word.  Without  the 
appearance  of  a  special  effort  in  the  elaboration  of  the  subject,  and 
without  making  the  discourse  any  the  less  argumentative,  he  grasps 
the  higher  conceptions  of  the  intellect,  and  weaves  them  into  the 
more  eloquent  forms  of  expression.  And  this  is  not  merely  true  as 
regards  a  few  themes,  to  which  more  attention  may  have  been  given, 
but  it  is  equally  so  with  reference  to  every  sermon  or  address  that 
he  prepares.  His  pen  is  always  bold,  vigorous,  and  eloquent,  and  he 
imparts  original  and  striking  views  on  even  the  most  ordinary  sub 

595 


REV.      THOMAS     E.     VERMILYE,     D.  D.,    LL.  D. 

jects.  He  seems  to  recognize  the  fact  that  a  sermon,  if  worth  writing 
at  all,  deserves  to  be  well  written,  and  hence  gives  to  his  own  not  only 
reflective  preparation,  but  scholarly  finish.  From  the  intelligent 
reader  they  claim  the  most  profound  respect  for  their  valuable,  im- 
pressive thoughts,  and  with  the  listener  they  awaken  the  emotions 
which  polished  rhetoric  and  etFective  oratory  are  certain  to  arouse. 

Dr.  Vermilye  has  a  smooth,  pleasant  voice,  though  at  intervals  it 
is  deficient  in  clearness  and  strength.  He  is  particularly  gifted  in 
prayer.  There  is  nothing  unusual  in  his  manner  when  preach- 
ing, nothing  calculated  for  a  moment  to  distract  the  attention  of  the 
listener  from  the  subject  to  the  individual.  But  there  is  something 
quite  unusual  in  the  intellectual  feast  with  which  he  entertains  you.- 
The  pure  gold  of  the  mind  glitters  in  his  methodically  delivered 
words,  and  wisdom  itself  speal^s  in  your  ear.  You  hasten  to  obliter- 
ate from  your  memory  the  froth  and  the  trash  gathered  from  the 
preachers  of  the  sensational,  sentimental  sort,  and  bow  the  intelligence 
to  the  dominion  of  brains,  happy  to  escape  once  more  from  the  fas- 
cination of  brass. 

596 


REY.  ANTOINE  YERREiX,  D.  D., 

HECTOR     OF    THE     EltElVCH     CHXJKCJtl,    r>XJ     ST. 
I2SF»I1IT,    (El?TSCOI»A.I^),     IVETV     YORK:. 


'EY.  DR.  ANTOINE  VERREN  was  born  in  Marseilles, 
i^]  France.  He  was  graduated  at  an  early  age  at  the  Lyceum 
of  Marseilles,  and  subsequently  continued  Lis  studies  in 
■  x^;^^'^  Geneva,  showing  a  great  taste  for  Latin  and  Greek  litera- 
^O  ture  and  philosophical  researches.  Such  was  his  proficiency  at 
"--^  the  end  of  two  years,  that  the  Faculte  de  Theolorp'e  conferred  upon 
him  the  title  of  tutor,  and  placed  under  his  charge  such  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  as  were  yearly  arriving  at  Geneva  to  complete  their 
studies,  that  they  might  pass  the  requisite  examination  in  the  Greek. 
He  entered  the  Auditore  de  Theologie  in  1821,  pursuing  his  studies  in 
the  same  chapel  of  St.  Peter's  Cathedral,  renowned  as  the  spot  where 
the  illustrious  Calvin,  some  three  hundred  years  before,  lectured  the 
students  coming  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  During  the  first  year  he 
was  appointed  to  the  honorary  position  of  librarian  of  the  Students' 
Library,  which  he  held  until  the  termination  of  his  studies,  and  in 
the  second  year  obtained  the  appointment  of  Preteur,  the  holder  of 
which  ofiice  is  required  for  six  months  to  read,  when  called  upon, 
portions  of  the  church  service  in  the  different  Protestant  churches 
of  the  city,  and  to  preach  in  the  country  churches.  There  were 
forty  or  fifty  students  to  compete  with  young  VeiTcn,  but  he  ob- 
tained the  position  three  times  in  the  four  years.  The  arrival  of  va- 
cation term  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  visit  Marseilles  and  Lyons, 
in  both  of  which  places  he  preached  two  sermons  prepared  for  the 
faculty  before  large  and  delighted  audiences.  He  passed  the  severe 
ordeal  of  the  final  examination  in  the  fourth  year  with  entire  success, 
retaining  his  place  at  the  head  of  his  class.  He  was  ordained  to  the 
ministry  in  August,  1825.  Recovering  from  sickness  induced  by 
his  application  to  study,  he  spent  some  time  in  rural  relaxation, 
preaching  occasionally  to  crowded  congregations.    His  ability  was 

fiillj  recognized  by   learned  and  influential   persons,  and  he  was 

597 


REV.     ANTOINE     VERREN,     D.  D. 

offered   several  advantageous  positions,  and   at  length   accepted  a 
vacancy  at  Ferney. 

Dr.  Verren  received  an  invitation  to  visit  the  castle  of  Ferney 
on  the  occasion  of  the  arrival  of  Louis  Philippe,  then  Duke  of 
Orleans. 

Among  the  other  distinguished  acquaintances  were  the  brave 
General  Huart,  an  officer  under  Napoleon,  Baron  de  Stael,  and 
Count  de  Sellon,  the  originator  in  Europe  of  the  Peace  Societies,  and 
author  of  a  variety  of  learned  works. 

Dr.  Verren's  ministry  at  Ferney  was  crowned  with  entire  success ; 
but  his  plans  were  altogether  changed  by  receiving,  through  the  con- 
sistory of  Bordeaux,  a  call  from  the  vestry  of  the  French  Episcopal 
Church  du  St.  Esprit,  in  New  York.  Disregarding  the  many  in- 
ducements offered  to  tempt  him  to  remain,  he  at  length  sailed  for 
the  United  States,  and  landed  on  our  shores  on  the  27th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1827,  after  a  passage  of  seventy-eight  days.  He  was  most 
cordially  received  by  the  members  of  the  French  congregation,  and 
also  by  various  leading  citizens,  such  as  Messrs.  Gallatin,  Astor, 
Prime,  and  others,  to  whom  he  bore  letters  of  introduction.  He  be- 
came intimate  with  Rev.  Dr.  "Wainwright,  then  rector  of  Grace 
Church,  and  gave  him  French  lessons,  receiving  English  lessons  in 
return,  which  language  he  acquired  very  rapidly.  At  first  he  medi- 
tated going  back  to  France,  as  he  found  that  he  would  have  to  take 
Episcopal  orders,  and  furthermore,  must  wait  until  the  expiration  of 
one  year.  He  finally  concluded  to  remain,  at  the  urgent  solicitation 
of  his  friends,  and  in  September,  1828,  took  the  orders  of  deacon 
and  priest  Shortly  alter  he  was  instituted  in  his  new  church,  then 
ill  Pine  street,  opposite  the  Custom-house,  and  on  the  following  Sab- 
bjith  preached  his  first  sermon  in  New  York  before  a  large  audience. 
His  sermon  was  committed  to  memory,  as  was  his  custom,  a  practice 
which  he  continued  for  a  year,  but  gave  it  up  as  the  other  clergy 
did  not  do  it  The  church  prospered  under  his  charge,  and  was 
attended  by  many  of  the  leading  families  of  the  city.  He  became 
professor  of  the  French  language  and  literature  in  Columbia  College, 
but  was  obliged  to  resign  in  1844  by  reason  of  his  pastoral  and  other 
duties.  In  1830  he  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  Hamers- 
ley,  Esq.,  a  lady  of  great  beauty  and  many  accomplishments,  who 
died  in  1856. 

When  Messrs.  De  Tocqueville  and  De  Beaumont  were  in  New 

York,  they  visited  Dr.  Verren  often,  and,  as  he  had  made  himseli 

59& 


REV.      ANTOINE     VERREN,    D.  D. 

thoroTighly  familiar  with  the  principles  of  our  government  and  the 
different  political  parties  of  the  day,  it  would  not  be  strange  to  sup- 
pose that  many  ideas  found  in  De  Tocqueville's  "  Democracy  in 
America,"  were  the  result  of  these  conversations. 

The  chureli  in  Pine  street  was  sold  in  1881,  and  a  new  one,  built 
of  white  marble,  on  the  corner  of  Franklin  and  Church  streets,  with  a 
parsonage  next  door,  was  consecrated  in  1834.  In  1839  this  church 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  communicated  from  the  adjacent  opera-house, 
and,  after  being  re-built,  was  considerably  damaged  by  fire  about 
eleven  months  later,  and  again  in  1859.  Services  were  discontinued 
in  the  Franklin  street  edifice  in  1862,  and  resumed  in  the  very  beau- 
tiful new  church  in  West  Twenty-second  street,  between  Fifth  and 
Sixth  avenues. 

In  1831,  Dr.  Yerren  corrected  and  revised  the  French  translation 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Pi'ayer,  then  printed  by  J.  &  T.  Swords,  of 
this  city,  and  later  reprinted  in  Paris.  He  received  the  degree  of 
D.  D.  from  Hobart  College,  Geneva,  New  York,  in  June,  1860.  On 
the  lajdng  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  church.  Dr.  Yerren  de- 
livered an  address,  which  has  been  printed,  in  which  he  traces  the 
history  of  the  settlement  of  the  Huguenots  in  America  prior  to  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  He  has  contribnted  various  articles 
to  the  public  press,  among  which  was  an  able  article,  occupying 
three  columns  of  the  Herald,,  in  regard  to  the  "  Eochester  Knockings." 
He  is  at  present  engaged  in  writing  a  work  of  a  philosophic -religious 
nature,  which  is  likely  to  create  a  decided  sensation  in  the  learned 
world.  In  1857  he  realized  his  ardent  wish  of  again  visiting  the 
land  of  his  birth,  and  hopes  to  i-enew  the  journey  at  an  early  date, 
and  extend  it  to  Alexandria  and  Palestine. 

As  early  as  1562,  Admiral  Coligny  sent  a  colony  of  his  Huguenot 
brethren  to  Florida,  where  they  suffered  from  the  Spaniards.  After 
the  mavssacre  of  some  of  them  near  St.  Augustine,  the  limbs  of  a 
number  were  suspended  to  a  tree,  to  which  was  attached  the  inscrip- 
tion— "Not  because  they  are  Frenchmen,  but  because  they  are 
heretics  and  enemies  of  God."  A  ten-ible  retaliation  was  inflicted 
by  Dominie  de  Gourgues,  who  placed  over  the  corpses  of  the  Span- 
iards the  declaration — "I  do  not  this  as  unto  Spaniards  or  mariners, 
but  as  unto  traitors,  robbers,  and  murderers." 

Subsequent  to  the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew,  and  at  a  very 
early  period  in  the  history  of  New  York,  religious  services  were 
established  by  Huguenot  emigrants.     There  were  many  of  them  in 

599 


REV.     ANTOINE     VERREN,     D.  D. 

the  counties  of  Kings,  Queens,  Eichmond,  Westchester,  and  Ulster, 
and  they  founded  the  two  boroughs  of  New  Roche! lo  and  Kings- 
ton. 

Dr.  Yerren  is  a  person  of  about  the  average  height,  and  in  cast 
of  countenance,  manners,  and  dress,  bears  the  impress  of  his  nation- 
ality. He  has  a  large  round  head,  and  a  prominent  brow  of  marked 
intellectuality.  In  composure  his  face  is  very  serious,  but  in  the 
animation  of  conversation  it  lights  up  with  cheerfulness  and  humor. 
He  discharges  his  public  functions  with  a  graceful,  easy  dignity  and 
an  impressive  solemnity.  His  sermons  are  always  scholarly,  and  their 
delivery  is  characterized  by  the  most  careful  and  elegant  oratory. 
At  times  he  exhibits  much  intensity  of  feeling,  holding  his  audience 
spell-bound.  His  long  career  is  spotless  of  reproach,  and  liis  people 
feel  for  him  an  unusual  love.  He  is  very  popular  in  all  refined 
society.  At  an  early  period  of  his  life  he  was  very  proficient  in  both 
vocal  and  instrumental  music,  and  was  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Greneral  Musical  Society  of  Switzerland.  He  composed  various 
ballads,  which  were  popular  in  the  salons  at  the  time,  beside  many 
acting  charades  and  proverbs,  both  in  prose  and  poetry.  He  also 
excelled  in  drawing  and  painting — jjainted  on  ivory  and  in  oil  colors 
— and  could  model  busts  in  clay.  Lefore  his  arrival  in  this  country 
he  had  read  the  French  translations  of  Shakspeare,  Milton,  Pope, 
Byron,  &c.,  and  had  the  acquaintance  of  the  latter  at  Geneva.  From 
all  these  circumstances  it  can  readily  be  conceived  that  Dr.  Verren 
has  peculiar  qualifications  for  agreeable  social  intercourse. 

He  is  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  free  institutions  and  liberality  of 
religious  opinions  enjoyed  in  the  United  States.  He  denounces  the 
bigotry  of  the  Catholic  countries  of  Europe,  and  declares  that  this  is 
the  only  land  beneath  the  sun  for  the  true  happiness  of  all  conditions 
and  sects. 

Illustrious  among  scholars,  eminent  among  citizens,  conspicuous 
among  Christians,  Dr.  Verren  has  passed  thus  for  on  life's  journey 
faithful  in  his  obligations  to  God  and  to  man.  Admired  and  cher- 
ished in  his  own  fliir  clime,  he  has  made  his  talents  useful  and  his 
virtues  an  example  in  the  country  of  his  adoption. 

600 


REY.  HENRY  YIDAYER,  PH.  D., 

KA.BI3I     OF"    THi:     C'OTS'GrSEGAI  ION     U»IVA.I    JESHXJ. 
RUN,    IVICTT    YORK:. 


EY.  DR  HENEY  YIDAYER  was  bom  in  1833,  in 
Poland.  At  five  years  of  age  he  commenced  Talmudical 
studies,  and  at  thirteen  he  was  considered  quite  proficient 
in  the  science  of  biblical  philology.  The  principal  rabbis 
of  Warsaw  took  occasion  to  commend  him,  and  both  by  nat- 
*^  ural  talents  and  ambition,  he  was  stimulated  to  diligent  and 
deep  investigation.  In  1859,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  he  came  to  the 
United  States,  and  ofi&ciated  as  rabbi  and  preacher  of  a  congregation 
in  Philadelphia,  but,  by  reason  of  impaired  health,  returned  to  Europe 
in  1861.  From  1863  to  Januaiy,  1868,  he  was  in  charge  of  a  large 
Hebrew  Congregation  in  St.  Louis,  when  he  removed  to  New  York, 
to  accept  the  position  of  preacher  of  the  Congregation,  B^nai  Jeshu- 
run. 

This  Congregation  was  the  first  Anglo-German  Hebrew  religious 
organization  in  the  city,  and  for  many  years  had  the  late  distinguish- 
ed Rev.  Dr.  M,  J.  Raphall  as  rabbi  and  preacher.  Some  years  since 
they  removed  fi'om  a  large  synagogue  on  Greene  street  to  another, 
which  they  had  erected,  on  "West  Thirty-fourth  street.  The  infirm 
health  of  Dr.  Raphall,  caused  him  to  retii-e  from  active  service,  though 
still  remaining  the  rabbi  of  the  congregation.  Dr.  Yidaver  was  then 
called  as  the  preacher,  and  subsequently  succeeded  Dr.  Raphall  as  the 
rabbi. 

We  quote  from  the  American  Phrenological  Journal^  the  following 
interesting  account : — 

' '  The  mode  of  Jewish  worship  practiced  among  the  Jews,  differs  from  that  of 
every  other  system.  The  prayers  are  chanted  in  Hebrew.  The  ritual  consists,  for 
the  most  part,  of  the;  Psalms  of  David,  and  the  supplications  and  prayers  are  mostly 
of  great  antiquity. 

"There  are  two  rituals  among  the  orthodox  Jews,  or  rather  three  ;  two  being 
branches  of  the  same  origin,  the  German  and  Polish,  and  the  Portuguese.  The  ritu- 
als differ  in  minor  points,  the  doctrines  and  teachings  of  the  creed  being  identical. 

601 


REV.     HENRY     VIDAVER,     PH.    D. 

The  pronunciation  of  the  Hebrew  is  the  test,  the  Portuguese  being  broader  and  more 
accurate. 

"The  interior  of  the  Jewish  synagogue  presents  this  aspect.  The  eastern  end, 
opposite  the  entrance,  is  called  the  Mizrach,  and  is  the  locality  occupied  by  the  Ark. 
This  Ark — the  representative  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  which  was  with  the  Israel- 
ites in  all  their  wanderings,  and  was  preserved  in  their  Temple  until  its  destruction — 
contains  a  number  of  jjarchment  scrolls  of  the  Pentateuch.  These  scrolls  are  giiarded 
with  great  zeal,  and  are  handsomely  and  richly  encased,  and  crowned  with  bells,  and 
adorned  with  plates  of  silver.  Every  Sabbath,  and  on  Monday  and  Thvirsday  morn- 
ings, a  scroll  is  tiiken  from  the  Ark  and  the  lesson  of  the  day  is  read  by  the  oificiant. 
The  Pentateuch  is  divided  into  fifty -four  sections,  one  of  which  is  read  weekly,  the 
cycle  being  completed  every  year.  Some  years  containing  less  than  fifty-four  Sab- 
baths (the  Jewish  year  is  not  always  the  same  length,  varying  from  354  days  to  386 
days,  according  to  an  established  calendar),  two  of  these  portions  are  occasionally 
read  together. 

"The  center  of  the  synagogue  is  occupied  by  the  reading-desk,  or  Almemor,  as  it 
is  termed.  Here  are  seats  for  those  engaged  in  the  ceremonies,  and  here  the  reader 
stands  supported  at  times  by  the  elders  or  Parnassim.  The  reader  looks  toward  the 
east,  and  chants  the  prayers  in  a  peculiar  oriental  monotone.  The  psalms  and  hjanns 
are  sung  by  a  choir,  which  is  sometimes  in  front  and  sometimes  behind  the  desk,  in 
some  synagogues,  while  in  others  the  congregational  system  is  still  pursued.  On 
either  side  of  the  desk  are  ranged  two  seats  for  the  males,  the  other  sex  being  placed 
in  the  galleries. 

"The  service  on  a  Saturday  usually  commences  at  nine.  At  ten  the  scroll  of  the 
Law  is  taken  from  the  Ark,  the  ceremonies  being  quite  imposing.  The  ritual  is 
divided  into  morning  and  additional  services,  in  commemoration  of  the  daily  and  ad- 
ditional sacrifices  for  the  Sabbath.  It  concludes  usually  with  a  discourse  in  English 
or  German." 

Dr.  Vidaver  is  of  the  medium  height,  with  a  dark  complexion  and 
black  hair  and  beard.  His  head  is  of  ample  size,  whil?  the  face  is 
expressive  of  both  the  intelligence  and  force  of  character  which  are 
notable  in  the  man.  He  preaches  fluently  in  the  English  tongue.  A 
favorite  theme  with  him  has  always  been  Hebrew  poetry,  and  it  is  to 
be  seen  in  all  his  discourses,  that  he  is  moved  by  a  most  delicate,  while 
ardent  poetic  fancy.  Some  of  his  illustrations  and  figures  of  thought 
are  exceedingly  beautiful  and  eloquent.  At  the  same  time  his  keen 
mind  and  practical  observation  make  him  a  preacher  of  great  power 
on  both  learned  and  common  topics.  Many  of  his  Hebrew  produc- 
tions in  poetry  and  prose  have  been  published.  Gifted  as  a  scholar, 
and  zealous  in  all  his  duties  among  his  people,  he  is  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  useful  of  the  Jewish  clergy  of  the  city. 

602 


REY.  MARVIN  R.  YINCENT,  D.  D., 

I»A.STOIl    OF    THE    CMURCH    OF    THE    COVE1VA.1VT 
{ PllESB YTIiRIA^lV ),    ]VE:TV    YOKlt. 


^^  EY.  DR.  MARVIN  R.  VINCENT  was  born  at  Pough- 
keepsie,  New  York,  September  lltb,  1834.  He  was 
graduated  at  Cohitnbia  College,  New  York,  in  1854.  Sub- 
sequently be  taugbt  for  eight  years.  During  four  yeara 
of  tbe  time  be  had  charge  of  Columbia  College  Grrammar 
Scbool,  in  connection  with  tbe  late  Professor  Antbon,  and 
for  tbe  last  year  bad  almost  tbe  entire  direction  of  the  institution. 
In  1858  be  went  to  tbe  Troy  Methodist  University,  as  Professor  of 
Languages,  where  he  remained  four  years,  and  then  went  for  one 
year  as  pastor  to  tbe  Pacific  Street  Metbodist  Church,  Brooklyn. 
He  bad  entered  tbe  Metbodist  Ministry  two  years  before,  in  1860, 
and  bis  theological  course  throughout  was  private.  On  tbe  18tb  oi 
June,  1863,  he  became  tbe  assistant  of  tbe  late  distinguished  Rev. 
Dr.  Beman,  of  tbe  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Troy,  where  he  con- 
tinued ten  years.  In  the  interval  Dr.  Beman  died,  when  Dr.  Vincent 
became  tbe  pastor,  having  shown  bimself  most  able  and  efficient  in 
all  bis  previous  relations  with  tbe  congregation.  Having  at  length 
accepted  a  call  to  tbe  Church  of  the  Covenant,  a  leading  Presby 
terian  congregation  of  New  York,  he  was  installed  on  the  8tb  of 
May,  1873.  His  predessesor  in  tbe  pastorship  was  the  Rev.  Dr. 
George  L.  Prentiss,  wbo  was  tbe  founder  of  tbe  church.  Dr.  Vin- 
cent received  bis  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Union  College  about  six 
years  ago.  He  is  the  joint  author,  with  Professor  C.  T.  Lewis,  of  a 
translation  of  "Bengel's  Gnomon  of  the  New  Testament,'' in  two 
large  octavo  volumes,  of  about  nine  bundred  pages  each,  published 
in  Philadelphia.  He  has  also  published  various  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses. 

Dr.  Vincent  is  above  tbe  average  height,  witb  a  well-proportioned 
figure.  His  head  is  large,  and  all  bis  features  are  regular  and  ex- 
pressive.    His  manners  are  polite  and  agreeable.     It  is  not  difficult 

603 


REV.     MARVIN    R.     VINCENT,     D.  D. 

to  feel  that  you  are  on  terms  of  friendliness  and  warm  intimacy 
with  him,  for  his  cordiality  in  both  manners  and  speech  is  of  the 
most  unmistakable  character.  His  cheerful,  kindly  face  ;  his  warm 
grasp  of  the  hand,  and  his  general  affability  and  good  nature,  are 
all  magnetic  in  their  influence  upon  you.  If  you  are  a  stranger. 
you  feel  that  you  have  lost  something  in  not  knowing  him  before  ; 
and  if  you  are  a  friend,  each  interview  draws  closer  the  ties  of  fel- 
lowship. His  nature  is  one  of  keen  susceptibilities,  turning  with 
quick  repugnance  from  that  which  is  debased,  but  showing  great 
strength  of  attachment  for  that  which  is  noble  and  pure.  Hence  in 
his  sentiments,  in  his  desires,  and  in  all  his  tastes,  there  are  evi- 
dences of  not  only  the  highest  type  of  manhood,  but  of  the  greatest 
individual  virtue  and  piety.  Penetrating  to  his  heart,  in  your  dis- 
section of  his  qualities,  you  find  it  gentle  and  true;  and  exposing 
the  mind,  you  discover  it  to  be  governed  alone  by  exalted  principles 
in  regard  to  every  action  of  life.  The  influence  of  such  a  man  is 
simply  boundless,  because  the  fascinations  of  such  a  character  are 
universal. 

Dr.  Vincent  bears  a  high  reputation  as  a  theological  scholar. 
Learned  investigation  has  been  the  absorbing  purpose  of  his  exist- 
ence. Practical  and  active  as  he  has  been  in  his  two  professions 
as  a  teacher  and  minister,  he  has  devoted  himself  to  an  amount  of 
study  such  as  few  men,  with  the  same  daily  claims  upon  them,  care 
to  attempt.  But  his  heart  and  his  ambition  have  been  fully  aroused 
in  these  efforts,  and  the  result  is  that,  though  still  a  young  man,  he 
stands  to-day  with  a  reputation  for  learning  which  no  man  can 
question. 

In  the  pulpit  he  is  always  interesting  and  scholarly.  He  is  a 
thinker,  and  his  thoughts,  which  are  keen  and  powerful  naturally, 
are  likewise  strengthened  from  the  resources  of  his  erudition.  He 
writes  with  a  fine  selection  of  language,  never  florid  or  exaggerated, 
but  always  pointed  a,nd  expressive.  Argument  at  his  hands  is  the 
unfolding  of  his  subject  by  a  process  of  reasoning  original  to  him- 
self, and  he  adorns  and  illuminates  it  at  intervals  by  passages  of 
glowing  eloquence.  He  speaks  in  a  distinct  voice,  and  gives  effect 
to  every  word  by  both  tone  and  manner.  A  member  of  the  profes- 
sion wdiich  is  the  one  most  intimately  identified  with  the  temporal 
and  eternal  welfare  of  mankind,  he  is  giving  to  bis  duties  the  whole 
strength  of  his  energies,  and  all  the  powers  of  an  unusually  gifted 
mind. 

604 


REV.  EDWARD  A.  WASHBURN,  D.  D., 

RECTOrt     OF     Cj^I^V^HY    (  EPISCOl'AIL.)     CHURCH, 

NEW    YOItlt. 


,EY.  DR.  EDWARD  A.  WASHBURT^  was  born  in  the 
citj  of  Boston,  April  16th,  1819.  He  pursued  liis  earlj 
studies  at  the  Latin  School,  and  other  academies  of  Boston, 
and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1838.  After 
this  he  pursued  a  course  of  theological  studies  at  Andover 
^  College  and  at  the  Divinity  School  of  Yale  College,  and  was 
graduated  at  the  latter  institution  in  1842.  During  the  same  year  he 
was  licensed  as  a  Congi'egational  minister  by  the  Worcester  Associa- 
tion  of  Ministers,  and  preached  about  six  months,  but  without  taking 
the  charge  of  any  congregation.  He  entered  the  Episcopal  commun- 
ion in  1843,  and  took  orders  as  a  deacon  in  the  spring  of  1844, 
Bishop  Eastburn,  of  Massachusetts,  officiating.  He  now  went  to  Su 
Paul's  Church,  Newburyport,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the  priest- 
hood by  the  same  bishop,  in  the  following  j^ear,  and  remained  as 
rector  of  the  church  for  seven  years.  This  church  is  noted  as  being 
one  of  the  oldest  Episcopal  churches  in  New  England,  having  been 
founded  by  the  Colonial  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos]3el  in 
Foreign  Parts. 

In  1852  Dr.  Washburn  went  abroad,  and  passed  two  years  in 
traveling  in  Europe  and  Asia,  visiting  the  Holy  Land.  On  his 
return  he  succeeded  the  present  Bishop  Coxe,  of  Western  New  York, 
as  rector  of  St.  Jolm's  Church,  Hartford,  where  he  remained  some 
years.  His  next  charge  was  St.  Mark's  Church,  Philadelphia,  where 
he  passed  three  years  in  a  highly  popular  and  useful  ministry.  In 
April,  1865,  he  became  rector  of  Calvary  Church,  New  York,  again 
succeeding  Bishop  Coxe,  who  had  been  recently  elected  to  succeed 
Bishop  Delancey  as  Bishop  of  the  Western  Diocese  of  New  York. 
Dr.  Washburn  received  bis  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Trinity  College, 
about  1860.  He  has  recently  made  another  extended  tour  in 
Europe.     Various  sermons  by  him  have  been  published. 

60  o 


REV.     EDWARD    A.     WASHBURN,    D.  D. 

Calvary  Church  was  organized  on  the  13th  of  September,  1886, 
and  a  small  building  was  occupied  on  the  corner  of  Fourtli  avenue 
and  Thirtieth  street,  the  Eev.  Francis  H.  Camming  being  the  first 
rector.  A  large  and  costly  stone  edifice  was  erected  in  1841  on  the 
corner  of  Fourth  avenue  and  Twenty-first  street,  which  is  now  the 
place  of  worship  of  the  congregation.  Dr.  Washburn  is  the  seventli 
rector.  The  eloquent  Dr.  Hawks  was  for  a  number  of  years  rector 
of  this  church.  The  church  has  two  hundred  and  fifty  families,  four 
hundred  members,  and  four  hundred  Sun  ay  school  children.  A  free 
chapel  is  maintained  by  the  congregation  on  East  Twenty-third  street. 

In  1871,  Dr.  Washburn  was  a  member  of  the  deputation  of  the 
American  branch  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  who,  with  a  number 
of  European  delegates,  personally  presented  a  memorial  to  Prince 
Grortschakoff,  as  the  representative  of  the  Emperor  of  Eussia,  in  be- 
half of  religious  liberty  in  that  empire. 

During  the  conference  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  New  York, 
in  October,  1873,  Dr.  Washburn  read  at  one  of  the  sessions  a  very 
able  paper  on  "Faith  and  Reason,"  from  which  we  make  the  follow- 
ing extract : — 

"AH  theologians  have  their  systems,  but  Christianity  is  net  a  thesis,  a  theory, 
but  a  divine  gospel  in  the  life  of  man.  It  is  not  a  symbol  that  shall  jireserve  the 
birth  of  the  incarnation,  but  the  hope  that  it  is  kept  alive  in  the  heart  of  man.  In 
80  far  as  revelation  asks  for  any  truth  over  mental  assent,  it  must  ajJi^eal  to  our 
understanding.  The  question  then  is,  what  is  the  presence  of  reason  ?  There  is 
not  one  mental  faculty  we  call  reason,  and  another  mental  faculty  we  call  faith. 
Nothing  can  be  worse  for  confusion  than  the  doctrine  of  our  modern  theology,  that 
there  are  truths  which  must  be  accepted  with  a  comparative  negation  of  our  under- 
standings. We  do  not  exalt  the  Word  of  God  by  appealing  to  the  ignorance  of  man. 
We  have  too  many  who  hold  that  human  folly  is  the  best  illustration  of  the  Gospel. 
If  we  cannot  know  that  any  intellectual  and  moral  conceptions  of  God  are  true,  then 
we  cannot  know  God,  and  yet  this  was  the  defense  of  Christianity  against  rationalism 
by  an  eminent  English  writer.  What  is  it  to  believe  ?  I  turn  to  the  New  Testament 
and  I  learn  it  from  the  lips  of  Christ.  Paul,  in  his  epistles,  answers  this.  What  is 
it  to  believe  in  Christianity  ?  It  is  not  to  accept  any  theory  about  Christ;  it  is  to 
accept  Him.  It  is  to  know  that  sin  destroys  the  soul,  and  that  Christianity  gives  it 
life.  Faith  requires  the  subjection  of  the  conscience  and  the  will.  No  theory  of 
depravity  can  teach  me  until  I  have  felt  sin  in  myself.  No  theory  or  redemption  can 
teach  me  the  need  that  I  feel  for  it  in  myself.  There  is  what  Pascal  had  finely 
called  'an  interior  reason,'  in  this  matter.  Reason  may  end  in  intellectual  opinion, 
but  faith  ends  in  holiness. " 

Dr.  Washburn  is  rather  above  the  medium  height,  well-propor- 
tioned, and  of  an  erect,  active  carriage.  His  head  is  of  fair  size, 
with  small,  regular  features,  and  an  intelligent,  amiable  expression. 
About  the  brow  there  is  a  very  considerable  development,  and  you 

606 


REV.     EDWARD    A.     WASHBURN,    D.  D. 

at  once  see  that  he  is  a  man  of  sterling  intellectual  capacity.  In  his 
manners  he  is  genial,  with  a  moderate  amount  of  not  unbecoming 
dignity. 

He  is  an  eloquent,  forcible  preacher.  A  man  of  a  quick,  vigor- 
ous mind,  and  with  a  natural  taste  and  enthusiasm  in  theological 
studies,  his  scholarly  researches  have  not  been  more  extensive  and 
thorough  than  his  own  powders  of  elucidation  are  profound  and 
brilliant.  After  his  arguments  there  are  no  doubts,  and  after  his  ex- 
planations there  is  no  mystery.  He  is  not  at  all  a  dull,  dry  preaclier, 
though  his  discussion  is  carried  on  in  a  methodical,  argumentative, 
and  totally  unaffected  style.  He  arrests  you  at  the  outset  by  a  voice 
of  great  strength  and  emphasis,  and  this,  and  his  manner,  are  as 
earnest  [is  his  well  selected  and  pointed  expressions.  There  is  no 
redundancy  of  words,  no  falling  off  and  feebleness  in  his  argument ; 
but  the  whole  is  a  terse,  smooth,  and  elegant  composition,  delivered 
in  a  manner  equally  free  from  the  slightest  exception.  In  a  word, 
he  is  grandly  eloquent,  without  aflecting  to  the  high-flown  and  more 
fervid  expressions  of  the  language,  and  he  is  convincing  by  the  in- 
herent force  of  the  thought  into  which  he  molds  all  his  ideas.  He 
is  comprehensive,  solid,  and  practical,  and  at  the  same  time  shows  all 
the  fascinating  characteristics  which  belong  to  scholarly  imagination 
and  oratory. 

Dr.  Washburn  has  had  a  long  and  successful  ministry.  He  has 
been  brought  in  comparison  with  the  oldest  divines  of  his  own  and 
other  denominations,  in  the  large  cities  which  have  generally  been 
the  scenes  of  his  labor,  and  always  with  the  greatest  honor  to  him- 
sel£  Few  men  are  more  learned  in  theology,  and  probably  none  can 
better  uphold  the  tenets  of  his  own  particular  sect.  He  is  in  no  sense 
an  aggressive  man  in  his  disposition,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  is 
liberal-minded  in  his  views  of  all  other  sects ;  still,  he  is  swift  and 
mighty  when  summoned  to  the  defense  of  his  beloved  church.  His 
mind  seems  to  reach  to  a  depth  of  masterly  logic  which  none  can 
fail  to  say  is  most  profound,  and  his  whole  nature  is  aroused  with  an 
ardor  which  partakes  of  divine  inspiration.  His  dignity  of  cliaracter, 
and  the  force  and  majesty  of  a  pure,  devoted  life,  are  other  qualifi- 
cations which  he  has  for  the  Christian  work.  As  an  accomplished 
theologian,  as  an  humble  follower  of  the  cross,  and  as  a  Christian 
guide  to  his  fellow-men,  he  stands  among  the  foremost  of  his  clerical 
brethren,  and  is  an  honor  to  the  denomination. 

607 


KEY.  LEVI  S.  WEED,  D.D., 

PAjSTOK     of     the     JOITIV     STllEET      IVIETHOJDIST 

chlxjkch:,  ]ve:tv  YOK.it. 


^^EV.  DR.  LEVI  S.  WEED  was  born  at  Darien,  Conn.,  May 
p  29tb,  1824.  His  academic  studies  were  pursued  at  the 
^NvA\\^  Delaware  Literary  Institute,  Delaware  County,  New 
York.  At  an  early  date  he  began  a  course  of  theological 
investigations  with  Rev.  S.  S.  Strong.  In  1845  he  became 
a  local  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  passed  three 
years  in  the  Delaware  District,  comprising  the  Delaware,  Prattsville, 
and  Franklin  Circuits.  He  joined  the  New  York  East  Conference 
in  1848,  and  during  1848-9  was  stationed  at  Southampton,  Long 
Island;  1850,  at  Orient,  L.  L  ;  1851,  at  Southport;  1852-3,  at  Col- 
shook  River;  1854-5,  at  Sands  street  Chui'ch,  Brooklyn  ;  1856-7, 
at  Hartford  ;  1858-9,  at  New  Haven ;  1860-1,  at  Stamford  ;  1862-3, 
at  Sands  street  Church  ;  1864,  at  Suramerlield  Church,  Brooklyn. 
After  filling  other  appointments,  he  is  now  stationed  at  the  John 
street  Church,  New  York.  In  June,  1872,  he  received  the  degree  of 
D.  D.  from  Asbury  University,  Grreencastle,  Indiana. 

The  first  American  Methodist  organization  was  a  society  of  five 
members,  formed  hy  Philip  Embury,  a  German-Irish  emigrant,  in 
his  own  house,  in  New  York,  in  1766.  The  earliest  Methodist 
Church  in  America  was  erected  in  John  street,  where  tlie  present 
church  now  stands,  and  was  dedicated  October  30th,  1768.  Em- 
bury's house  was  in  Park  place,  near  Broadway.  Afterward  meet- 
ings were  held  in  a  rigging  loft  in  Horse  and  Cart  lane,  now  120 
William  street.  In  1768  a  piece  of  land,  known  as  "  Shoemakers 
Ground,"  was  leased  of  Mary,  the  widow  of  Rev.  Henry  Barclay, 
of  Trinity  Church,  which  became  the  site  of  the  John  street  Church, 
and  was  finally  purchased  two  years  later.  All  denominations  sub- 
scribed to  the  fund,  "  To  build  a  house  for  the  worship  of  Almighty 
God  after  the  manner  of  the  people  called  the  Methodists."  Among 
those  who  gave  were  Robert  Livingston,  signer  of  the  Declaration 

608 


A 


o  ^^X.^, 


^^^c£^ 


EEV.     LEVI     S.     WEED,     D.  D. 

of  Independence ,  and  Duane,  tlie  first  Mayor.  The  pastor  of  the 
church  worked  on  the  edifice  as  a  carpenter.  A  rough  dweUing  was 
built  for  him  in  the  yard.  The  church  was  unfinished  for  many 
years,  having  only  a  ladder  to  reach  the  gallery.  Each  person  car- 
ried a  light  at  night.  As  dissenters  were  not  allowed  to  build  a 
church,  the  difficulty  was  overcome  by  a  suggestion  of  the  official 
given  in  this  form :  "Put  a  fireplace  and  a  chimney  in  youi'  building," 
he  said,  "  and  it  will  be  a  dwelling,  and  not  a  church."  Although  the 
site  is  now  in  the  strictly  business  portion  of  the  city,  religious  ser- 
vices are  regularly  maintained. 

The  first  annual  conference  was  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1773, 
and  consisted  of  ten  preachers,  who  reported  a  membership  of  1,160. 
The  first  general  conference  was  held  in  Baltimore  in  1784. 
Methodism  on  this  continent,  it  will  be  seen,  began  about  the  same 
time  that  the  colonies  were  striving  for  and  attained  their  independ- 
ence. The  infant  Methodist  Church  had  to  depend  very  largely 
upon  local  preachers  for  the  ministration  of  the  Gospel.  Wesley 
and  Whitefield  crossed  the  ocean  several  times,  and  traversed  the 
seaboard  of  these  United  States,  organizinsr  societies,  foundinoi- 
churches,  and  ordaining  ministers  and  preaching  the  Gospel  with 
great  power.  Their  success  was  marvellous,  notwithstanding  they 
were  received  very  coolly  by  their  brethren  of  other  denominations, 
and  met  with  some  opposition  also.  But  the  societies  grew  apace, 
and  in  1784  Thomas  Coke  and  Francis  Asbury  were  ordained 
bishops  or  superintendents  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  America, 
and  were  sent  hither.  They  had  been  members  of  the  British 
Wesleyan  Conference  for  some  years  before.  Dr.  Coke  died  at  sea, 
in  Ma}",  1814,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven ;  and  Mr.  Asbury  died  in 
Virginia  two  years  later,  aged  seventy-one.  They  were  succeeded 
by  Richard  Whatcoat,  also  a  member  of  the  British  Wesleyan  Con- 
ference, ordained  a  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
America  in  1800.  He  died  in  Delaware  in  1806,  aged  seventy-one 
years.  He  was  the  last  of  the  superintendents  sent  from  the  other 
side. 

The  total  lay  membership  of  the  Alethodist  Episcopal  Church  of 

America  in  1870  was  1,367,134  ;  and  preachers,  regular  and  local, 

21,234.     Its  churches  number  13,373,  and  the  value  of  its  churcli 

edifices  and  parsonages  is  in  round  numbers  $60,000,000.     Its  Sun 

day  schools   number  16,912,    into   which    were   gathered   last  year 

1,221,393  scholars  and  189,412  teachers.     Its  benevolent  contribu- 

609 


REV.      LEVI     S.     WEED,     D.  D. 

tions  for  the  year  amounted  to  about  one  million  dollars.  Tiie 
annual  collections  for  missionary  purposes  reacli  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  In  1866  over  eleven  millions  of  dollars  were  sub- 
scribed as  a  centenary  offering.  The  educational  institutions  may 
be  classified  as  follows :  First,  colleges  and  universities,  of  which 
there  are  twenty-seven  scattered  all  over  the  country,  from  New- 
York  to  California  ;  second,  theological  seminaries,  of  which  there 
are  six,  one,  however,  being  located  in  Frankfort-on-the-Main;  and, 
third,  seminaries,  female  colleges  and  academies,  of  which  there  are 
sixty-nine  located  in  twenty-four  States  of  the  Union.  The  number 
of  students,  male  and  female,  instructed  in  those  institutions  during 
the  last  academic  year  was  16,300,  and  the  number  of  insti-uctors 
880.  The  aggregate  number  of  volumes  in  the  libraries  of  the  uni- 
versities and  theological  seminaries  was  171,789.  The  endowments 
of  those  two  classes  of  educational  institutions  amount  in  the  aggre- 
gate to  $2,653,123,  and  the  aggregate  income  to  $243,834.  The 
value  of  the  buildings,  etc.,  of  all  sorts,  for  the  three  classes  of  insti- 
tutions, is  $5,857,939.  In  New  York  and  Brooklyn  and  the  imme- 
diate vicinity,  there  are  eighty -two  Methodist  churches  and  thirty -two 
parsonages,  of  the  aggregate  value  of  $3,790,000.  One  of  these 
churches  is  valued  at  $200,000,  another  at  $140,000,  and  very  many 
range  in  value  from  $50,000  to  $100,000.  Such  is  the  wonderful 
growth  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  all  its  departments  of  effort  from 
tlie  little  seed  planted  in  John  street  in  1768. 

A  writer  in  the  Metltodki  furnishes  the  following  very  accurate 
description  of  Mr.  Weed: 

' '  About  teu  years  ago  we  first  became  intimately  acquainted  with  Eev.  L.  S. 
Weed,  at  that  time  stationed  at  the  Sands  street  Church,  Brooklyn.  He  had  been  for 
six  years,  since  he  joined  the  Conference,  filling  some  small  appointments  on  Long 
Island  and  in  Northern  Connecticut.  His  introduction  to  the  Sands  street  Church 
is  an  illustration  how  merit,  in  the  Methodist  system,  will  readily  find  its  place  of 
honor.  He  came  the  previous  year  to  assist  a  brother  in  a  series  of  meetings  in  that 
church,  and  his  amiability,  his  devotion  to  his  work,  his  talents,  and  his  success  in 
his  labors  made  him  naturally  the  choice  of  the  people  for  their  future  minister. 
They  were  not  disappointed  in  their  expectations,  and  he  gained  a  legitimate  posi- 
tion for  the  employment  of  his  talents.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  in  demand  for 
some  of  the  chief  stations  of  tlie  Conference,  and  wherever  he  has  been  he  has  left  a 
pleasant  fragrance  with  his  name.  He  is  naturally  confiding  and  unsuspicious  in 
the  professions  of  others,  which,  while  it  may  expose  him  to  imposition  from  the 
deceiving,  only  secures  more  effectually  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  true 
friends.  To  those  but  little  acquainted  with  him,  he  might  seem  unsocial  and  dis- 
tant ;  but  this,  if  it  ever  appears,  is  more  the  result  of  constitutional  diffidence  than 
of  any  lack  in  the  warmth  of  his  heart.     To  those  with  whom  he  is  iatimate,  he  is  a 

CIO 


EEV.     LEVI     S.     WEED,     D.  D. 

genial,  taking  friend.  He  had  aa  opportunity  while  pastor  of  the  Sands  street 
Church — which  it  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  every  minister  to  enjoy — to  study 
and  co-operate  in  the  workings  of  a  superior  Sunday  school,  and  we  think  it  inten- 
sified and  strengthened  his  impressions  of  the  value  of  this  institution  as  a  means 
of  saving  the  young  and  increasing  the  prosperity  of  the  Church.  In  all  his  suc- 
ceeding appointments  he  has  been  renowned  for  untiring  zeal  and  fidelity  in  this 
department  of  ministerial  duty.  Parents  have  honoted  him  and  the  young  people 
and  children  have  loved  him  for  it.  He  is  less  stately  and  grand  than  chase, 
earnest,  and  atti'active  in  the  pulpit.  Ht  does  not  take  unbeaten  oil  to  light  iip  the 
eanctuai-y,  for  his  sermons  are  the  product  of  both  genius  and  preparation,  and  they 
leave  a  saving  influence  on  his  congregations." 

Mr.  Weed  is  about  of  the  average  height,  with  broad,  square 
shoulders  and  erect  carriage.  His  appearance  gives  evidence  of 
abundance  of  physical  stamina,  and  of  a  man  not  likelj  to  be  afraid 
of  personal  exertion.  His  head  is  of  good  size,  but  the  features  are 
small  and  delicate,  pai'ticukrly  the  mouth.  He  Las  light  gray  eyes 
of  very  full  and  clear  expression.  Without  looking,  in  the  strict 
sense,  an  intellectual  person,  he  has  a  brow  of  considerable  breadth, 
and  altogether  a  highly  intelligent  •  countenance.  In  conversation, 
his  face  has  a  lightsome,  animated  cheerfulness,  and,  in  public  speak- 
ing, it  is  vividly  expressive  of  his  emotions.  He  is  ceremoniously 
polite  and  quite  cordial  in  his  manners,  but  there  is  at  all  times  a 
quiet,  natural,  and  becoming  dignity.  He  converses  with  a  measirre 
of  deliberation,  but  has  a  happy  flow  of  words,  which  are  always 
addressed  calmly  and  understandingly  to  the  best  points  of  the  sub- 
ject. While  he  has  a  great  deal  of  serious  religious  reflectiveness, 
he  has  likewise  a  buoyant  temperament,  which  renders  him  a  cheer- 
ful, pleasant  companion. 

Mr.  Weed  is  one  of  the  most  promising  preachers  in  the  Meth- 
odist denomination.  At  preseni;  it  is  to  be  seen  that  he  is  in  the  pri- 
mary development  of  his  powers.  His  mind  is  ripening  and  expand- 
ing with  years  and  experience,  to  exercise  a  commanding  intellectual 
influence.  His  advance  in  the  ministry  has  been  rapid,  and  marked 
at  every  step  by  unquestionable  talent  and  worth.  Commencing 
with  the  most  substantial  groundwork  of  character  and  study,  he 
builds  methodically,  and  to  some  extent  slowly,  but  he  is  assuredly 
uprearing  a  proud  and  enduring  monument  of  personal  reputation 
and  professional  fame.  He  is  an  eloquent  speaker;  and  still  his 
force  as  a  speaker  does  not  come  from  mere  bursts  of  declamation 
and  feeling.  These  of  course  have  their  influence  in  arresting  atten- 
tion and  moving  the  heart,  but  there  is  throughout  an  array  of  logic 

611 


REV.     LEVI     S.     WEED,     D.  D. 

wTiicli  is  quite  as  irresistible.  His  sermons  are  thoughtfully  pre 
]")ared,  and  generally  written  out,  but  in  the  pulpit  he  uses  a  mere 
outline  of  the  subject,  and  frequently  introduces  much  new  matter, 
suggested  by  the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  Thus  he  is  very  little 
controlled  by  what  he  has  written  before  him,  and  speaks  with  the 
ease  and  animation  which  belong  more  particularly  to  the  extem- 
poraneous address.  He  has  a  great  deal  of  well-conceived  gesture, 
and  he  also  moves  about  the  pulpit  with  a  self-possessed  freedom. 
His  voice  is  strong,  and  indeed  somewhat  harsh,  but  it  has  an  impas- 
sioned fervor.  In  his  more  brilliant  passages — when  mind,  heart, 
and  eloquence  are  all  in  action — he  holds  his  audience  enchained. 
His  tones  are  as  ringing  as  those  of  the  trumpet,  his  countenance  is 
aglow  with  his  high- wrought  fe  lings,  and  his  attitudes  are  as  expres- 
sive as  his  language.  Grasping  his  subject  with  the  powers  of  a 
superior  mind,  his  lUterances  are  made  additionally  impressive  .by 
his  fascinating  gifts  as  an  orator. 

612 


REV.   JOHN   D.    WELLS,   D.  D., 

I»A.STOn    OF    THE    SOUTH   THilRX*  fSTKEET    P  llEB- 
33YTERIA.IV    CHiXJKCH,    BROOIvEYiV,    (E.  13.) 


*^""   EY.  DR  JOHN   D.  WELLS   was   born   in  Washington 
%   county,  New  York,  October  2oth,  1815.    His  early  studies 


were  at  the  Academy  at  Cambridge  in  his  native  county. 

He  was  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1839,  and  at  Prince- 
ton Theological  Seminary  in  1844.  In  the  same  year  he  com- 
menced his  career  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  at  a  mission  church 
in  Madison  avenue,  comer  of  Twenty-ninth  street,  which  is  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  Madison  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church.  He  remained 
in  this  position  until  1846,  when  his  health  failed,  and  he  took  charge 
of  the  parish  school  connected  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
then  under  the  pastorship  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Phillips.  His  talents,  but 
more  than  all  his  earnest  diligence  in  his  Christian  labors,  had  already 
brought  him  into  prominence  in  his  denomination,  and  he  was  now 
called  to  a  higher  field  of  duty.  On  the  first  Sunday  in  January, 
1850,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  South.Third  street 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Eastern  District  of  Brooklyn,  where  he 
has  continued  up  to  this  time,  a  period  of  twenty-four  years. 

This  congregation  grew  out  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
the  Eastern  District,  and  was  organized  April  19th,  1844,  with  twenty- 
seven  members.  The  first  preaching  was  in  a  school  house,  corner 
of  South  Third  and  Fifth  streets,  and  the  first  pastor,  the  Rev.  P.  E. 
Stephenson,  was  installed  February  20th,  1845.  The  erection  of  a 
church  edifice  was  soon  commenced,  and  the  completed  building  was 
dedicated  May  10th,  1845.  Mr.  Stephenson  was  succeeded  by  the 
present  pastor.  There  are  now  about  three  hundred  members,  and 
lour  hundred  and  twenty-five  children  in  the  Sunday  school.  The 
contributions  during  the  year  1868  were  twelve  thousand  dollars  for 
congregational  purposes,  nearly  nine  hundred  dollars  for  foreign  mis- 
sions, and  five  hundred  dollars  for  domestic  missions.  Three  other 
flourishing  churches  in  the  Eastern  District  have  been  organized  by 

613 


REV.     JOHN    J).     WELLS,    D.  D. 

colonies  from  this  congregation.  Seventeen  members  founded  the 
Ainsley  street  Church,  and  the  same  number  organized  a  church  in 
Throop  avenue,  where  a  mission  had  been  established  for  the  benefit 
of  the  rag-pickers,  who  live  in  that  section.  The  original  building 
used  is  now  occupied  bj  a  large  German  congregation,  which  has  a 
Sunday  school  of  six  hundred  children,  and  anotlier  has  been  pro- 
cured for  the  Throop  Avenue  Presbyterian  congregation.  Twenty- 
seven  members— the  same  number  that  withdrew  from  the  First 
church — formed  a  new  organization  in  one  of  the  best  improved  por- 
tions of  the  Eastern  District,  and  is  known  as  the  Ross  Street  Pres- 
byterian Church.  Notwithstanding  the  loss  of  members  by  '.he 
mother  church  in  founding  these  new  organizations,  and  the  contribu- 
tions of  money  made  to  aid  in  their  establishment,  that  church  has 
alwaj^s  successfully  maintained  its  own  importance  both  in  point  of 
members  and  wealth.  In  18(37,  extensive  alterations  were  made  in 
the  church  edifice,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  most  tasteful  buildings  of 
the  kind  in  the  country.  It  is  surrounded  by  well-kept  grounds,  and 
the  approach  is  by  wide,  easily-ascended  steps.  The  joews  are  well 
arranged,  seating  about  one  thousand  persons,  and  the  galleries,  which 
are  reached  by  neatly-constructed  flights  of  stairs  within  the  church 
proper,  are  low,  and  in  excellent  unifbrniity  with  the  tastefulness  and 
utility  of  the  rest  of  the  building.  The  interior  is  painted  white, 
with  a  beautifully  frescoed  ceiling,  and  the  carpets  and  upholstery 
are  red,  making  contrasts  that  are  very  pleasing  to  the  eye.  The 
pulpit-desk  is  of  black-walnut,  designed  and  finished  with  rare  taste 
and  skill.  It  was  a  gift  from  the  Sunday  school  children,  and  cost 
over  two  hundred  dollars.  The  Sunday  school  room  in  the  basement 
is  also  a  model  in  its  arrangement,  and  is  divided  into  the  principal 
school  room,  room  for  the  infant  class,  and  three  rooms  for  Bible 
classes.  Adjoining  the  church  is  a  handsome  parsonage.  The  whole 
property  is  valued  at  some  sixty  thousand  dollars. 

Dr.  Wells  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Union  College  about 
1866. 

He  is  under  the  medium  height,  of  spare  figure,  but  is  a  man  of  a 
great  deal  of  physical  energy  and  endurance.  His  head  is  not  large, 
while  it  is  proportional  to  his  stature,  and  has  very  deci  'ed  marks  of 
intellectual  power.  The  face  in  the  lower  part  is  narrow,  but  the 
upper  portion  of  the  head  is  very  full,  with  a  broad  brow,  which  over- 
hangs his  clear,  expressive  eyes.  The  nose  and  mouth  are  very  re- 
gular, and  the  latter  gives  full  evidence  of  the  decision  and  resolu- 

614 


REV.    JOHN    D.     WELLS,    D.  D. 

tion  which  are  leading  traits  of  his  character.  There  is  a  great  deal 
of  blandness  and  amiabihtj  expressed  in  his  countenance,  and  you 
readil}^  see  that  he  is  a  kind-hearted,  intellectual  person,  and  one  who 
wields  a  power  and  influence  among  men  by  the  force  of  this  intel- 
lectuality, a  circumstance  which  naturally  gives  him  the  place  of  a 
leader  and  counselor.  He  is  a  frank,  just  man,  and  while  his  opin- 
ions are  plain-spoken,  they  are  sincere,  and  never  intended  to  be  un- 
kind. He  has  a  cheerfulness  and  geniality  to  a  degree  greater  tlian 
in  most  men  of  his  profession,  but  at  the  same  time  there  is  no  laying 
aside  of  the  self-respect  and  dignity  which  rightly  l)elongs  to  a  clerg}^- 
man.  He  grasps  you  by  the  hand  like  a  friend  and  a  brother;  he 
laughs  with  you,  he  discusses  all  the  current  topics  with  good-natured 
animation,  and  in  every  way  he  shows  that  he  is  alive  to  all  the 
emotions  which  draw  man  to  man  in  social  intercourse  ;  but,  after  all, 
he  has  that  reflectiveness,  prudence  and  wisdom,  vs'hich  are  the  best 
testimonials  of  clerical  dignity.  With  all  classes,  and  with  all  ages, 
he  is  a  popular  and  fascinating  man.  In  his  church  among  the  adults 
his  influence  is  unbounded,  and  in  his  Sunday  school  among  the 
children  he  is  greeted  with  the  warmth  of  a  true  affection. 

If  ever  the  right  man  was  in  the  right  place  in  the  ministry.  Dr. 
Wells  is  such  a  person.  His  temperament,  his  habits  of  mind,  his 
convictions,  and  his  choice  of  duty,  his  qualifications  and  his  ambition 
are  all  most  happily  suited  for  the  work.  He  is  not  restive  in  it,  he 
does  not  look  into  other  fields  of  professional  effort  and  wish  to  be 
there  instead  of  where  he  is,  but  he  is  emphatically  a  satisfied  man, 
feeling  himself  in  the  right  place,  and  doing  his  whole  duty  in  it 
Great  have  been  the  fruits  of  the  harvest  in  the  fields  of  his  tilling. 
Not  one  flourishing  congregtion,  but  four,  can  attest  to  his  diligence, 
liis  talents,  and  his  success.  Among  the  humble  and  among  the  rich 
he  has  planted  the  cross  and  shed  the  light  of  the  gospel.  In  the 
winter  and  in  the  summer  he  has  been  at  his  post,  toiling  and  plan- 
ning for  the  salvation  of  souls.  He  has  made  no  noise  about  it,  but 
he  has  toiled  himself,  and  those  who  assisted  him  have  considered  it 
their  highest  honor  to  imitate  his  unbounded  zeal.  His  ministerial 
work  has  not  been  a  sensational  movement,  intended  to  give  its  author 
pubhc  fime,  but  it  has  been  a  self-denying  task  for  the  moral  and  re- 
ligious improvement  of  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  So  quietly 
and  unobtrusively  has  all  this  been  accomplished,  that  men  may  even 
be  heedless  of  the  name  of  the  man  who  more  than  any  other  is  en- 
titled to  the  praise  of  this  great  work  in  founding  new  church  or- 

615 


REV.    JOHN    D.    WELLS,    D.  D. 

ganizations  ;  but  as  the  eye  of  God  looks  down  upon  spire  after  spire 
wbicli  bas  lifted  itself  heavenward,  it  is  known  in  those  realms 
whose  patience,  energy,  and  faith  have  been  their  foundation  stones. 

Dr.  Wells  is  an  attractive  preacher.  In  the  first  place,  he  is  a  very 
accomplished  scholar ;  and  in  the  next,  he  is  a  thinker  of  no  ordinary'- 
capacity.  Hence  his  sermons  are  productions  of  brilliant,  oiiginal 
thought.  All  questions  of  doctrine  and  of  the  true  interpretation  of 
the  Scriptures  are  discussed  with  a  clearness  and  learning  which  give 
great  interest  to  all  such  disqaisitions,  and  his  treatment  of  other 
topics  is  equally  thorough  and  effective.  He  speaks  well,  and  has 
readiness  of  thought,  but  he  makes  no  display  either  in  matter  or  de- 
livery. It  is  a  solid,  practical,  argumentative  discourse,  spoken  for- 
cibly and  yet  tenderly.  It  has  completeness  in  regard  to  a  statement 
of  the  subject,  and  thoroughness  in  discussing  it  in  all  its  bearings. 
And  still  there  is  nothing  like  dullness,  but  every  part  is  vivid  with 
intellectual  power,  and  fervent  with  the  sincere  emotions  of  the  heart. 

Such  is  the  character  nnd  career  of  this  eminent  and  efficient 
clergyman.  He  has  done  a  great  work,  and  done  it  well.  His  private 
life  is  consistent  with  his  public  career,  and  in  the  church  and  ia 
society  his  influence  is  all-i^owerful. 

616 


REY.  SULLIVAN  IL  WESTON,  D.  1)., 

jve^v  "sroiiit. 


'EV.  DR.  SULLIVAN  H.  WESTON  was  born  at  Bristo], 
I®  Maine,  October  7th,  1816.  He  was  graduated  at  the 
AVestern  University,  Middleto^\ni,  Connecticut,  in  1842, 
and  pursued  a  ])rivate  theological  course.  He  was  or- 
dained a  deacon  of  the  Episcopal  cliurch  in  Trinity  Church, 
New  York,  in  1847,  and  priest  in  1852.  His  connection  with 
Trinity  parish  commenced  at  the  first  date,  and  has  continued  with- 
out interruption  up  to  the  present  time.  In  1852  he  went  to  Europe, 
where  he  spent  some  five  months  in  travel.  After  Ins  return  the 
death  of  Bishop  Wainwright  occurred,  and  he  succeeded  to  the  vacant 
assistant  ministership  of  Trinity  Clmrch,  and  became  rector  of  St. 
John's  Chapel.  In  1858  he  was  elected  Bishop  of  Texas,  but  de- 
clined. He  received  his  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Columbia  College  in 
1861.  He  was  chaplain  of  the  Seventli  Eegiment  National  Gruard, 
and  served  two  campaigns  in  the  field  during  the  late  war. 
Among  his  published  occasional  sermons  is  one  preached  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  the  28th  of  April,  1861,  the  Sunday 
after  the  arrival  of  the  regiment  in  Washington,  and  another  de- 
livered in  St.  John's  Chapel,  entitled  the  "  March  of  the  Seventh 
Regiment,"  showing  the  Providence  of  God  in  the  heroic  advance  of 
the  regiment  to  the  endangered  capital.  A  sermon  on  the  "Sanctity 
of  the  Grave,"  preached  at  the  period  of  the  agitation  in  regard  to 
the  extension  of  Pine  street  through  Trinity  churchyard,  created  a 
decided  sensation,  and  was  published  by  order  of  a  special  committee 
CI  Trinity  Church  Vestry.  In  1872  he  went  to  Europe  for  an  ab- 
sence of  six  months  granted  to  him. 

Some  account  of  the  vast  and  costly  missionary  work  constantly 
going  on  in  Trinity  parish  is  appropriate  in  this  place.  There  is  a 
chapel  on  Governor's  Island,  established  at  the  time  of  tlie  war  for 
the  especial  benefit  of  the  soldiers  stationed  there,  a  free  mission 

617 


REV.      SULLIVAN     H.     WESTON,    D.  D. 

chapel  in  the  Bowery,  a  free  churcli  in  Thirty-ninth  street,  and  four 
others,  these  latter  having  an  aggregate  of  between  one  and  two 
thousand  free  sittings,  and  three  or  four  entirely  free  services  every 
day.  None  of  the  six  city  churches  are  ever  closed  summer  or  win- 
ter, and  three  of  them  have  services  twice  a  day  thi'oughout  the 
year ;  the  work  in  most  of  them  is  largely  missionary.  A  church  in 
Hadson  street  and  two  free  mission  churches  on  the  east  side  of  the 
city  are  sustained  by  the  contributions  of  Trinity,  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars having  been  given  in  1873  to  one  of  these  mission  churches. 
There  are  also  a  home  for  aged  women,  six  sewing  schools,  five 
daily  parish  schools,  and  various  benevolent  societies.  One  of  these 
societies  spent  in  a  single  winter  five  hundred  dollars  for  shoes  alone. 
Three  thousand  children  are  under  instruction  in  the  Sunday  and 
other  schools  of  the  parish.  St.  John's  Guild  directs  its  efforts  to  works 
of  charity  among  the  poor  in  the  Fifth  and  Eighth  wards.  More  than 
fifteen  hundred  children  who  had  attended  school  in  that  vicinity 
were  provided  with  clothing  in  the  winter  of  1873,  and  over  four 
hundred  families  were  cared  for,  at  an  expenditure  of  over  ten  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  Guild  of  St.  Chrysostom  cares  for  its  poor  and 
buries  its  dead.  The  Missionary  Union  numbers  fifty  members,  and 
the  Sunday  School  Teacher's  Association  maintains  a  library.  The 
Guild  of  St.  Paul  has  its  field  of  mission  in  the  lower  wards.  It 
maintains  a  reading-room  which  is  opened  every  evening,  and  gives 
instructive  entertainments  to  the  poor.  The  Guild  of  St.  Augustine 
is  another  younger  association.  The  Guilds  of  St.  Margaret  and  St. 
Agnes,  numbering  thirty  members  each,  and  the  Sisterhood  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  do  a  most  noble  work.  In  1873  the  juvenile  Guild  of 
St.  Nicholas  numbered  seventy-five  boys,  and  the  Guild  of  St.  Agnes 
had  ninety  girls  pledged  to  modesty  and  good  behavior. 

Dr.  Weston  is  a  tall,  finely  proportioned,  and  gracefully  appearing 
man.  His  head  is  large,  round,  and  of  the  higher  intellectual  char- 
acteristics. He  is  bald,  and  his  prominent,  glistening  forehead  and 
otherwise  handsome  features  attract  observation  in  all  places.  His 
manners  are  extremely  courteous,  and  he  has  but  little  reserve  with 
strangers.  He  is  a  person  of  an  extremely  nervous,  impulsive  tem- 
perament He  talks  to  you  in  one  seat,  and  then  throws  himself  into 
another  ;  he  stands  up  and  sits  down ;  he  assumes  first  one  position 
and  then  another — always  talking,  always  busy,  always  making  him- 
self agreeable  to  you.  In  the  pulpit  he  is  equally  restless.  There  is 
a  constant  movement  of  his  body  and  limbs,  and  he  has  far  more 

618 


REV.      SULLIVAN     H.     WESTON,     D.  D. 

gesticulations  than  most  of  his  Episcopal  cotemporaries.  He  is  al- 
ways in  a  huny,  and  still  he  has  time  for  everybody  and  everything. 
In  his  study  there  is  the  greatest  confusion,  but  he  says  that  he  has 
a  general  knowledge  of  where  every  paper  and  book  is  to  be  found. 
Ilis  appointments  crowd  in  upon  him,  and  he  seems  half  distracted 
for  time,  and  after  all  keeps  more  of  them,  and  finds  more  time  to 
dispose  of  for  the  benefit  of  others,  than  almost  any  city  professional 
man.  He  is  heartily  interested  in  tlie  work  of  his  parish.  It  is 
among  the  poor,  tlie  field  of  the  Christian's  noblest  labor.  The 
wealthy  people  worshiping  at  St.  John's  Chapel  in  an  earlier  day 
have  gone  to  the  upper  sections  of  the  city,  leaving  the  altar  to  hum- 
bler followers  of  the  same  Redeemer.  But  the  doors  of  the  noble 
old  temple  stand  open,  every  one  is  welcome,  and  there  is  the  same 
talent  in  the  ministrations,  with  probably  more  personal  devotion  to 
the  fold.  A  congregation  quite  respectable  in  numbers  attend,  and 
the  schools  connected  with  the  church  have  sixteen  hundred  chUdren. 
These  children  are  of  every  faith,  and  many  of  them  come  from  the 
cellars  and  garrets  of  the  lower  wards,  and  since  the  establishment  of 
the  schools  the  statistics  of  morality  and  crime  have  shown  a  great 
improvement  One  of  the  schools  is  held  on  Saturdays  for  Industrial 
purposes,  and  the  garments  made  are  distributed  as  prizes  to  the 
children.  At  Christmas  time  of  each  year  there  is  a  general  distri- 
bution of  presents  among  all  the  scholars  of  the  church.  Dr.  Weston 
gives  a  great  deal  of  his  personal  attention  to  the  school.  He  is 
ftimiliar  to  the  children  and  beloved  by  them.  His  christenings  are 
very  numerous,  reaching  as  high  as  fifty  at  one  service.  He  also 
ofiiciates  at  a  large  number  of  weddings  and  funerals,  many  of  them 
being  of  persons  disconnected  with  his  church.  He  willingly,  and 
in  the  true  spirit  of  his  calling,  goes  everywhere  and  to  everybody, 
rejoicing  to  render  any  service,  glad  to  do  good.  In  many  a  place 
where  wretchedness  and  misery  abound,  he  gives  consolation  to  the 
dying,  and  where  all  else  is  gloom  and  sin  little  children  prattle  of 
his  kindness  and  teachings.  "When  I  die,"  he  remarked  to  us,  "I 
would  father  have  the  children  of  the  poor  in  the  schools  of  St.  John's 
come  to  my  funeral,  than  all  the  rich  men  of  New  York." 

Dr.  Weston  is  an  impressive  preacher.  He  discusses  his  subject 
with  much  thoroughness  and  force.  His  impulsiveness  of  manner, 
his  quick  and  marked  modulations  of  voice,  are  all  peculiar  with  him, 
and  add  greatly  to  the  effect  of  his  delivery.       He  is  fond  of  poetry, 

and  sometimes  reads  long  selections  in  his  sermons  with  acceptable 

619 


REV.      SULLIVAN"     H.     WESTON,     D.  D, 

taste.  His  voice  is  strong,  while  generally  soft  and  pleasant  to  the 
ear.  As  he  holds  forth  he  has  that  appearance  of  hitelligent  and 
honest  conviction,  that  outspokenness  of  mind  and  heart,  and  that 
just  conception  of  individual  duty  and  opportunity,  tliat  the  hearer 
is  drawn  toward  him  by  influences  that  are  irresistible.  He  is  want- 
ing in  those  delicate  touches  of  sentiment  and  manner  which  so 
many  of  his  profession  display,  for  these  are  not  so  much  found  in 
the  impulsive,  fearless,  independent  nature.  But  in  words  less  softly 
said,  and  in  actions  less  gently  performed,  he  exhibits  so  much  man- 
liness, justice,  and  sincerity,  that  he  as  quickly  wins  the  confidence 
and  esteem.  Brave  for  any  duty,  authoritative  in  speaking  the  com- 
mands of  his  Master,  still  he  stands  a  coward  in  the  paths  of  tempta- 
tion, and  the  humblest  of  the  sowers  of  good  seed  in  the  dark  places. 

620 


h'^ 


REY.  JOSEPH  WILD,  D.  D., 

PASiTOK,     OF    THE     SEVEIVTH     j^VElVUE     IMETIIO- 
DIST    CHXJUCII,    33rtOOI5:L,Y]V. 


1 


lEY.  DR.  JOSEPH  WILD. was  born  at  Summit,  near 
1^  Rochdale,  in  Lancashire  County,  Enghmd,  November 
16tli,  1834.  His  family  is  of  the  class  of  respectable 
^&^^'^  small  land  owners  of  tiiat  section.  He  pursued  his  early 
^p  studies  at  a  school  at  Littleborough,  and  then  at  the  academy  at 
^  Carlisle  City,  and  for  two  years  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh, 
Scotland.  After  this  he  served  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years  with 
a  civil  engineer  in  Rochdale.  He  made  some  preparation  to  study 
medicine,  but  when  twenty-one  years  of  age  embarked  for  the  United 
States.  Probably  for  a  hundred  years  before  no  member  of  the 
family  had  left  the  country  to  reside.  He  reached  New  York  on  the 
17th  of  December,  1855. 

At  sixteen  he  had  entered  the  local  ministry  of  the  Primitive 
Methodists  in  England,  and  continued  to  preach  up  to  the  time  of 
his  departure,  when  he  was  a  traveling  preacher.  Consequently  he 
spent  his  first  few  years  in  the  United  States  in  traveling  through  the 
South,  and  other  portions  of  the  country,  going  as  far  west  as 
Omaha,  as  a  preacher  and  lecturer.  His  first  regular  settlement  was 
over  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  city  of  Hamil"!/^.},  On- 
tario, Canada,  in  1857,  where  he  remained  one  year.  He  then  went 
to  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  and  took  a  theological  course  of  three 
years  at  the  Biblical  Institute,  since  removed  to  Boston.  Returning 
to  Canada,  he  was  stationed  for  one  year  at  Goderich,  on  Lake  Huron, 
and  then  he  traveled  a  year  in  Europe.  When  in  England,  he 
lectured  frequently  with  much  public  approbation.  In  1863  he 
settled  at  Orono,  Canada,  for  two  years,  and  next  went  to  Belleville, 
Ontario,  Canada,  where  he  was  occupied  for  seven  years. 

His  work  embraced  not  only  the  pastorship  of  the  Methodist 
church,  but  the  chair  of  Oriental  Languages  in  the  Albert  University 
at  that  place.     He  has  been  justly  spoken  of  as  the  "father,  guide. 

621 


REV.     JOSEPHWILD,     D.  D. 

able  defender  and  sustainer"  of  the  University.  He  gave  it  the  aid 
of  commanding  talents,  of  an  energy  in  direction  which  was  vital  to 
its  very  existence,  and  contributed  to  its  funds  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  out  of  the  proceeds  of  his  lectures  for  two  years.  Holding 
the  three  positions  of  professor,  trustee,  and  treasurer,  through  his 
able  efforts  in  each,  the  institution  was  advanced  to  a  condition  of 
prosperity  from  a  very  low  ebb.  When  he  was  about  to  leave,  one 
of  his  fellow-workers  thus  spoke  at  a  meeting :  "  He  (Dr.  Wild)  had 
so  incorporated  his  efforts  with  the  prosperity  of  the  college,  bad  so 
clearly  presented,  and  so  forcibly  advocated  his  schemes,  and  had  so 
vigorously  led  on,  especially,  in  her  financial  arrangements,  that  there 
is  little  wonder  that  some  eagerly  inquire,  '  where  shall  we  find  a 
substitute  as  College  Treasurer?  '  "  His  leaving  Canada  drew  forth 
universal  expressions  of  regret  and  esteem. 

In  May,  1872,  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference,  held 
in  Brooklyn.  During  his  sojourn  in  the  city  he  preached  once  in  the 
Seventh  Avenue  Methodist  Church.  On  the  election  of  the  then 
pastor,  Eev.  Dr.  Andrews,  to  the  office  of  bishop.  Dr.  Wild  was  im- 
mediately invited  to  take  the  position.  He  accepted,  and  in  the 
following  June  removed  to  Brooklyn.  A  public  reception  was  ex- 
tended to  him  by  the  congregation,  when  he  was  warmly  welcomed 
in  an  address.  He  preached  his  first  sermon  as  pastor  on  Sunday, 
June  30th,  1872. 

The  Seventh  Avenue  Congregation  grew  out  of  the  Hanson  Place 
Church,  and  now  consists  of  between  four  and  five  hundred  members. 
They  purchased  proj^erty  in  the  best  part  of  the  city,  where  a  chapel 
has  been  erected.  Eighty  thousand  dollars  have  already  been  ex- 
pended, and  a  large  church  will  be  built  at  an  early  day. 

For  several  years  Dr.  Wild  lectured  throughout  Canada,  and  to 
some  extent  in  the  United  States.  His  series  embraced  highly 
original  subjects,  which  were  treated  in  a  most  scholarly  and  eloquent 
manner.  Says  an  account  of  one  of  these  lectures;  "He  held  the 
attention  of  a  large  and  intelligent  audience  enchained,  as  if  by 
mesmeric  spell,  for  fully  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  when  he  intimated 
his  intention  of  concluding  his  address,  there  arose  from  every  part 
of  the  hall  an  eager  shout  'goon.'"  He  prepared  in  ail  fourteen 
lectures,  but  lost  eleven  of  them  and  his  library  by  a  fire  in  Belleville. 
He  ban  since  written  three  others,  and  has  now  six  valuable  lectures. 
The  subjects  are:  "Babel,"  "What  Will  the  World  Come  To?" 
"Porphyry  Coffer,"    "144,"    " Spiritology, "    and    "Individuality." 

622 


REV.      JOSEPH     WILD,     D.  D. 

He  received  the  degree  of  A.M.  from  Genesee  College  about  1866, 
and  tbat  of  D.D.  from  the  Weslejan  Universitj  of  Ohio,  in  1870. 
He  was  married  in  1858  in  Canada  to  Miss  Mary  Victoria  Hixon  of 
Bronte,  and  has  tliree  children.  His  father  and  mother  are  dead,  but 
he  has  still  living  in  England  two  brothers.  The  familj^  was  com- 
posed of  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  the  Dr.  being 
the  youngest  member.  Both  of  the  sisters  are  dead,  and  one  of  the 
brothers  is  the  Rev.  B.  Wild,  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Church  in 
England, 

Dr.  Wild  is  of  the  medium  height,  with  a  compact  and  erect 
figure.  He  has  a  large,  finely  molded  head,  with  intelligent  and 
amiable  features.  His  eyes  have  a  soft,  kindly  gaze,  and  a  cheerful 
expression  at  all  times  pervades  his  countenance.  He  has  a  full 
and  luxuriant  dark  brown  beard,  and  long  dark  hair  combed 
back  of  his  ears.  The  clerical  coat,  which  he  always  wears,  is 
buttoned  up  tightly  to  the  chin.  In  his  manners  he  is  exceedingly 
polite,  and  his  address  is  easy  and  fascinating.  His  voice  in  ordinary 
conversation  is  mellow  and  pleasing,  while  in  public  speaking  it  has 
a  scope  from  the  most  subdued  articulation  to  the  sonorous  outbursts 
of  eloquence  which  fill  the  largest  building.  He  is  a  fluent  talker, 
ever  animated  and  cheerful,  showing  all  who  come  about  him  that  he 
is  guided  at  once  by  the  impulses  of  an  able  mind  and  a  tender  heart. 
In  the  pulpit  he  is  very  effective.  His  personnel  is  striking,  and 
he  looks,  in  form  and  garb,  to  be  a  man  suited  for  the  sacred  desk. 
Intelligence  beams  in  his  face ;  there  is  a  magic  power  in  every  tone 
of  his  voice,  and  every  word,  thought,  and  gesture  go  to  complete 
the  fascination.  His  sermons  are  learned,  argumentative,  practical, 
and  deeply  religious.  Study,  experience  in  life,  and  above  all,  his 
interest  in  the  salvation  of  his  race,  are  the  basis  of  his  pulpit 
themes.  It  is  his  habit  to  write  out  at  least  one  sermon  each  week. 
He  uses  notes  in  the  pulpit,  but  he  does  not  confine  his  remarks  to 
them.  He  memorizes  with  much  facility,  particularly  in  his  lectures. 
He  is  fi'ee  and  forcible  in  his  gestures. 

The  power  of  learning,  the  gift  of  eloquence,  the  graces  of  per- 
sonal virtue  and  piety,  are  the  qualities  which  justly  belong  to  this 
eminent  divine.  They  have  already  made  their  mark  in  wide  fields 
of  intellectual  and  religious  effort,  and  the  promise  of  the  future  is 
still  more  brilliant.  True  to  his  faith,  and  inspired  by  the  spirit  of 
the  progressive  age  in  which  he  lives,  the  church  and  society  at  large 
will  receive  continued  benefit  from  his  talents  and  example. 

623 


REV.  WILLIAM  R.  WILLIAMS,  D.  D., 

I^ATE    PASTOR    OF    THE    AMIITY    STKEET   BA.T»- 
TIST    CHURCH,    rSTETV    YOKKl. 


lEV.  DK.  WILLIAM  R  WILLIAMS  was  born  in  New 
York,  October  14th,  1804.  His  father,  the  Eev.  John 
Williams,  was  pastor  of  the  Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church 
for  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years.  He  was  graduated  at 
Columbia  College  with  distinguished  honor  in  1-823,  and 
subsequently  studied  law  in  the  office  of  the  late  Peter  A.  Jay, 
fie  became  a  member  of  the  Oliver  Street  Church,  then  under 
the  charge  of  Rev.  Dr.  Cone,  and  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  at 
the  constitution  of  the  Amity  Street  Baptist  Church.  This  was  De- 
cember 17th,  1832,  and  he  continued  with  the  same  congregation 
for  a  number  of  years,  though  repeatedly  solicited  to  accept  profes- 
sorships in  different  colleges  and  seminaries.  He  is  not  now  in  the 
active  ministry.  He  entered  the  field  of  religious  authorship  while 
still  practicing  law,  by  a  biographical  notice  of  his  father,  and  a 
most  elaborate  address,  entitled  "  Conservative  Principles  in  our 
Literature."  A  volume  of  "  Miscellanies,"  one  on  "  Eeligious  Pro- 
gress," a  series  of  lectures  on  the  "Lord's  Prayer,"  and  various  ser- 
mons and  addresses  "have  given  him  an  undisputed  rank  among 
the  first  preachers  and  religious  writers  of  the  day." 

Says  another :  "  The  leading  characteristics  of  Dr.  Williams  are 
fervor  and  depth  of  piety,  a  liberal  and  catholic  spirit ;  unaffected 
modesty  and  humility  ;  simplicity  and  meekness,  coupled  with  in- 
flexibility of  principle  ;  studious  and  retired  habits ;  profound  and 
extensive  erudition ;  uncommon  powers  of  analysis ;  conscientious 
and  mental  abstraction  ;  the  uniform  and  complete  coramand  of  his 
intellectual  resources,  and  a  general  harmony  and  consistency  of 
•character.     He  is  not  much  seen  in  public  gatherings,  but  no  man's 

G24 


REV.     "WILLIAM    E.     WILLIAMS.    D.  D. 

opinions  have  greater  weight  with  his  denomination.  His  library 
is  his  home.  This  is  very  extensive,  and  embraces  a  great  variety 
of  works  in  all  the  principal  languages,  most  of  which  he  reads  with 
.  ease.  The  number  of  volumes  is  about  nine  thousand,  many  of 
which  are  exceedingly  rare  and  valuable." 

An  able  critic  says  of  Dr.  Williams'  writings  :  "  They  display 
everywhere  an  intellect  equally  active  and  vigorous  ;  a  mind  that 
makes  its  own  observations,  that  draws  its  own  conclusions,  and  uses 
its  large  stores  of  information,  not  as  substitutes,  but  as  materials  for 
thought  His  mind  never  rests  upon  the  surface  of  his  facts,  but 
pierces  below  to  the  principle  which  they  embody  ;  and  it  is  in  il- 
lustration of  that  principle  that  they  marshal  themselves  on  his  paga 
But  along  with  a  large  fiind  of  knowledge  and  power  of  thinking  of 
a  high  H'der,  Dr.  Williams'  writings  evince  an  uncommonly  bril- 
liant and  fervent  imagination.  This  fuses  and  blends  into  harmony 
all  his  powers  and  acquisitions,  imparts  to  his  pages  ever  fresh  life 
and  interest,  and  causes  them  to  teem  with  the  most  striking  and 
beautiful  imagery.  Indeed,  Dr.  Williams  thinks  in  metaphor ;  his 
figures  are  not  after-thoughts,  superinduced  upon  his  style  for  illus- 
tration or  embellishment ;  they  are  wrought  into  the  very  texture  of 
thought ;  they  are  the  form,  the  body  which  it  naturally  and  almost 
necessarily  assumes." 

When  Di\  Williams  was  preaching  in  Amity  street,  we  gave  the 
following  description  of  him :  "In  the  pulpit  Dr.  Williams  appears 
a  plain,  unassuming,  but  not  unattractive  man.  Indeed,  you  are  at 
once  struck  with  the  gentle,  meek,  and  almost  sad  expression  of  his 
face.  He  stands  an  image  of  one  of  those  penitential  Christians  sigh- 
ing and  sorrowing  for  the  bright  hereafter.  His  face  has  many 
furrows,  his  voice  is  feeble  and  tremulous,  and  his  eyes  are  evidently 
aot  unused  to  tears.  Then  he  is  so  thoroughly  devotional,  and  as  he 
reclines  his  head  during  the  singing  before  the  sermon,  seemingly  in 
prayer  for  strength  to  perform  his  pious  task,  the  sensitive,  devo- 
tional heart  is  drav/n  to  him  by  an  irresistible  attraction.  When  the 
aged  Christians  of  the  congregation  look  upon  this  man,  so  given  up 
to  the  work  of  salvation,  so  insignificant  and  debased  in  his  own 
sight,  while  so  exalted  in  conscientious,  earnest  piety,  they  can  but 
think  how  close  he  walks  to  the  character  and  teachings  of  the  suf- 
fering, uncomplaining  Nazarene.  He  is  certainly  extraordinary  in 
faithfulness  of  life,  in  a  childlike  simplicity  of  nature,  and  as  an  ex- 
ample of  Cln-istian  hope  and  zeal.     His  long,  patient,  self-denying, 

625 


REV.     WILLIAM    R.     "WILLIAMS,    D.  D. 

God-adoring  years  have  not  only  won  bim  the  highest  place  among 
his  fellow  Christians,  but  assuredly  '  treasures  in  heaven,  where  nei- 
ther moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt'  He  is  of  the  middle  size,  and  his 
face  is  pale  and  thin.  His  cast  of  countenance  is  reflective  and  in- 
tellectual. 

"  The  singing  having  concluded,  he  raises  his  head.  '  The  text  is 
announced  in  almost  a  whisper,'  correctly  states  another,  '  the  hands 
grasp  the  ends  of  the  cushion  where  lies  the  open  Bible,  or  ai-e  lifted 
ever  and  anon,  as  the  warmth  increases ;  the  head  is  lowered  toward 
the  neatly-written  manuscript ;  and  thus,  with  a  quiet  ease,  in  a  low 
and  feeble  voice,  the  discourse  goes  forward  in  one  unbroken  thread 
of  golden  thought  to  its  close. 

"  You  must  pay  strict  attention  to  follow  the  sermon,  as  at  times 
the  voice  of  the  preacher  is  almost  inaudible.  There  are  moments 
when  it  rises  into  a  rich-toned  volume,  but  it  is  usually  greatly  sub- 
dued, and  frequently  falls  to  indistinctness.  His  shoulders  sink 
down  to  a  level  with  the  Bible,  one  arm  is  stretched  across  his  manu- 
script, and  his  eyes  are  brought  into  very  close  scrutiny  with  it  He 
seldom  changes  this  position  during  the  delivery, 

"  The  sermon  is  certainly  worthy  of  all  attention.  It  is  the  pro- 
duction of  a  scholar  and  the  appeal  of  a  true  Christian.  All  along 
through  it  there  are  the  traces  of  his  extensive  learning,  not  only  giv- 
ing substance  and  vigor  to  the  argument,  but  taking  forms  of  rare 
eloquence.  Then  there  is  such  solicitude  apparent  in  his  desire  to 
interest,  instruct,  and  convert,  and  such  pathos  in  his  tones,  that  the 
words  seem  as  if  they  would  be  followed  by  tears.  This  tenderness, 
this  thorough  contrition  of  spirit,  this  zeal  in  the  labor  of  regenera- 
tion, and  this  absorbing  piety  appear  throughout,  and  are  of  the 
most  affecting  character. 

"  Fashion,  with  its  glitter,  draws  not  near  this  altar  ;  pomp  in  re- 
ligious services  takes  no  awe-inspiring  part  in  these  exercises ;  showy 
oratory  is  allowed  no  display  in  these  ministrations  :  but  it  is  a  gath- 
ering of  humble  Christians,  a  worship  of  the  penitential  heart,  and 
the  preaching  of  a  man  whose  only  ambition  is  to  exert  his  talents 
and  efforts  in  doing  good.  Among  the  clergy  there  are  few,  if  any, 
of  such  devotedness  to  duty  as  Dr.  Williams,  as  there  are  few  of  a 
life  so  void  of  offense  and  of  ability  so  profound.  Humble  in  his 
feelings,  and  keeping  aloof  from  the  conflicts  of  men,  he  is  passing 
his  peaceful  days,  careless  of  earthly  fame,  but  hopeful  of  the  celes- 
tial crown." 

626 


REV,  JAMES   D.   WILSON, 

PA^TOK.    OF    THE    CEIVTIIA.!!.    I»RESBYTEK.IA.N 
CJrXXJKCH,    NETV    YORIt. 


|EV.  JAMES  D.  WILSON  was  bom  at  Spring  Mills, 
Center  county,  Pennsylvania,  April  3d,  1836.  His  early 
studies  were  at  the  district  school,  and  at  an  academy  in 
Juniata  county,  and  another  at  Lewisburg.  He  was  grad- 
uated at  Amherst  College  in  1858,  and  at  the  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  New  York  city,  in  1862.  Immediately  after 
the  close  of  his  collegiate  course  he  had  accepted  a  position  as  a 
teacher  in  the  academy  at  Lewiston,  where  he  remained  for  one  year. 
After  leaving  the  seminary,  his  first  position  was  as  a  stated  supply 
for  the  pulpit  of  the  Spring  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York. 
He  thus  remained  from  September,  1862,  to  July,  1863,  when  he 
was  installed  as  the  regular  pastor  of  the  congregation,  and  continued 
in  its  service  until  January,  1869.  He  went  to  the  Spring  Street 
church  when  its  fortunes  were  at  a  low  ebb.  However,  he  not  only 
saved  the  church  from  dissolution,  but  placed  it  on  a  strong  basis  for 
the  future.  A  new  congregation  was  drawn  in,  of  which  a  large 
number  were  newly-converted  young  men.  During  Mr.  Wilson's 
ministry  more  than  four  hundred  persons  united  with  the  church. 
Revivals  were  frequent,  and  the  history  of  the  church  at  this  period 
is  full  of  most  astonishing  interest.  Mr.  Wilson's  relations  with  this 
congregation  were  most  happy.  "Never,"  he  says,  "during  my 
whole  ministry  with  that  people  was  one  word  said  by  man  or  woman 
that  gave  me  anything  but  pleasure."  However,  he  required  rest 
from  his  excessive  labors,  and  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Central 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  entered  upon  his  new  duties  February 
28th,  1863. 

The  Central  Presbyterian  Church  was  originally  in  Broome  street. 
The  congregation  was  organized  with  four  members,  January  8th- 
1821,  by  the  Kev.  Dr.  Patton.  He  resigned  in  1839,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Adams,  in  1840.     In  1853  Dr. 

627 


REV.     JAMES    D.     WILSON. 

Adams  and  a  large  portion  of  the  congregation  went  out,  and  formed 
tlie  Madison  Square  Church.  At  the  same  time  a  union  was  formed 
with  the  remaining  members  and  the  Pearl  street  congregation,  under 
the  pastorate  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Wood,  who  became  settled  over  the 
new  organization.  The  Pearl  street  congregation  was  a  colony  from 
the  First  Associate  Eeformed  Church,  in  Cedar  street.  Rev.  John  M. 
Mason.  A  church  edifice  was  erected  on  Magazine  (now  Pearl)  street, 
in  1797.  Dr.  Mason  officiated  at  both  places.  In  1804  the  new 
church  became  independent,  taking  the  title  of  the  Second  Associate 
Reformed  Church,  and  the  Rev.  Robert  Forrest  was  called  as  the  first 
pastor.  For  a  long  period  this  congregation  was  one  of  the  most 
flourishing  and  important  in  New  York.  The  building  of  the  Central 
congregation  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  August,  1854,  a,nd  another 
edifice  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  de- 
dicated in  May,  1855.  Dr.  "Wood  resigned  in  1860,  and  in  1862  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Dunn  was  called,  who  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Wilson 
in  1869.  During  Mr.  Dunn's  ministry,  about  1865,  it  was  determined 
to  sell  the  projDerty  in  Broome  street,  and  remove  up-town.  A  pur- 
chaser was  found  in  the  Merchants'  Union  Expi'css  Company,  who 
wanted  it  for  stables,  and  the  sum  of  about  sixty-five  thousand  dollars 
was  ol^tained  for  the  ground  and  building.  A  debt  of  eight  thousand 
dollars  on  the  property  was  paid,  and  the  balance  of  the  money  was 
duly  invested.  Lots  were  bought  up-town,  which  it  was  subsequently 
thought  would  not  answer,  and  they  were  sold  at  an  advance  of  some 
nine  thousand  dollars.  A  site  was  then  secured  of  eighty  feet  on 
Fifty-seventh  street  and  fifty  feet  on  Fifty-ninth  street,  winch  is  one 
of  the  finest  localities  near  the  Park  for  a  church  edifice.  A  chapel 
was  ])ut  up  on  Fifty-seventh  street  at  a  cost  of  about  twenty-thousand 
dollars,  in  which  the  services  are  now  held.  It  will  seat  five  hundred 
people.  Previous  to  the  erection  of  this  building  the  services  were 
held  in  a  public  hall.  There  are  about  two  hundred  and  twenty 
members,  and  the  congregation  is  gradually  growing,  as  the  new 
district  occupied  by  them  fills  up  with  people. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  about  of  the  medium  height,  well  proportioned, 
and  very  active.  His  head  is  long,  with  a  narrow  chin,  but  is  full 
and  largely  developed  in  the  upper  portion.  Tlie  brow  is  both  broad 
and  high,  and  his  intellectual  capacity  cannot  be  doubted  for  a  mo- 
ment. His  manners  are  attractive  in  the  extreme.  They  are  free 
and  frank  with  all  persons.  You  are  placed  on  the  most  agreeable 
footing  without  delay,  and  are  entertained  with  a  genial,  afiable  flow 

628 


REV.    JAMES    D,    WILSON". 

of  conversation.  He  has  in  his  disposition  all  the  requirements  to 
make  a  popular  man  with  all  ages  and  classes.  And  still  he  does  not 
sacrifice  any  of  the  circumspection  which  is  necessary  in  a  clergy- 
man. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  in  the  fullest  sense  a  worker.  Activity  of  mind 
and  body  with  him  is  his  most  happy  condition.  He  never  requires 
any  spur,  but  is  up  and  doing  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  His 
judgment  is  excellent  in  the  ministerial  labor,  and  hence  his  great 
success.  He  never  seems  to  come  in  conflict  with  either  the  opinions 
or  the  interests  of  others,  but  either  yields  to  others  or  they  do  to  him. 
He  has  no  vanity  in  anything  personal  to  himself,  is  no  quibbler  on 
punctilio  or  dignity,  but  he  shows  all  who  come  in  contact  with  him 
that  he  wants  to  do  the  most  possible  work  and  the  most  good  in  the 
most  effective  way.  Such  a  character  as  this  makes  other  men 
ashamed  of  small  things,  of  personal  pride  and  ostentation,  and  it  sets 
them  to  work  with  an  earnest,  unselfish  spirit,  which  accomplishes  the 
best  results.  Again,  Mr.  Wilson  is  a  worker  with  practical  as  well  as 
scholarly  weapons.  He  regards  scholarship  and  oratory  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  ministerial  functions  as  very  poient  agencies,  but  they  are 
the  least  of  his  reliances.  He  holds  a  closer  relationship  with  his 
people  than  any  of  these  mere  pulpit  attractions  can  give  him.  When 
he  looks  over  his  congregation  he  knows  the  faces,  the  disp)sition, 
and  the  circumstances  of  all  those  before  him.  He  has  been  to  their 
homes,  he  has  joined  in  their  joys  and  their  sorrows,  he  has  witnessed 
their  abundance,  and  he  has  given  to  those  who  were  humble  and 
poor.  In  sickness  he  has  been  a  watcher,  and  in  death  a  mourner. 
In  works  of  charity,  in  "  going  about  doing  good,"  in  giving  personal 
encoui'agemeut  and  advice  in  regard  to  social  and  religious  affairs, 
and  in  seeking  in  every  way  that  a  pastor  should  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  his  flock,  and  the  increase  of  the  church — in  all  of  these 
he  has  made  it  his  constant  effort  to  do  his  part  conscientiously  and 
thoroughly. 

As  a  preacher  Mr.  Wilson  is  very  effective.  He  has  natural 
powers  as  an  orator,  speaking  with  fluency  at  all  times.  He  writes 
in  good  plain  English,  to  which  he  gives  most  emphasis  in  his  earnest 
and  oftentimes  impassioned  delivery.  While  he  is  sufficiently  argu- 
mentative to  suit  the  most  logical,  he  has  a  great  deal  of  imagination 
and  pathos.  His  feelings  are  always  in  his  subject,  and  he  shows  it 
in  the  most  vivid  manner.  He  has  an  agreeable,  well-modulated 
voice,  and  his  gestures  are  all  appropriate  and  graceful 

629 


APPENDIX. 


Professor  E.  D.  Hitchcock,  in  his  work,  "Analysis  of  the  Holy  Bible," 
states  that  in  the  whole  world  there  are  about  three  thousand  differeiit  lan- 
uages,  and  about  one  thousand  difterent  religious  and  sects.  In  the  United 
States  there  are  more  than  fifty  religious  denominations,  five  of  which  may 
be  found  in  all  the  States.  The  Episcopalians  date  from  1607,  in  Virginia; 
Roman  Catholics  from  1633,  in  Maryland;  Bai^tists  from  1639,  in  Rhode 
Island;  Presbyterians  from  1684,  in  Maryland;  and  Methodists  from  1766, 
in  New  York.  The  most  numerous  are  the  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Presby- 
terians. 


A  census  table,  showing  the  condition  of  the  various  religious  denom- 
inations in  the  United  States,  during  twenty  years  : — 

Years.            Membership.  Churches.  Propei^ty. 

Aggregate  of  all  the  churches — 

1850 14.234,825  38,061  $87,328,801 

1860 19,128,751  54,009  171,397,932 

1870 21,665,062  63,082  354,483,581 

Regular  Baptists — 

1850 3,247,069                   9,376  11,020,855 

1860 3,749,551  11,221  19,799,378 

1870 3,997,116  12,857  39,229,221 

Other  Baptists — 

1850 60,142                      187  153,115 

1860 294,667                      929  1,279,736 

1870 363,019                   1,105  2,878,977 

Christian — 

1850 303,780                      875  853,386 

1860 681,016                   2,067  2,518,045 

1870 865,602                   2,822  6,425,137 

Congregational — 

1850 807,335                   1,725  8,001,995 

1860 956,351                   2,234  13,327,511 

1870 1117,212                   2,715  25,069,698 

Protestant  Episcopal — 

1850 643,598                   1,459  11,375,010 

1860 847,296  2,145  21,665,098 

1870 991,051  2,601  36,514,549 

Evangelical  Association — 

1870 193,796                      641  2,301,650 

631 


APPENDIX. 


Years.  Membership. 
Priends — 

1850 286,323 

1860 269,084 

1870 224,66i 

Jewish — 

1850 18,371 

1860 34,412 

1870 73,265 

liutlieran — 

1850 539,701 

1860 757,637 

1870 977,432 

Methodists — 

1850 4,345,519 

1860 6,259,799 

1870 6,528,209 

Moravians — 

1850 114,988 

1860 20,316 

1870 25,700 

Mormons — 

1850 10,880 

1860 13,000 

1870 87,838 

Swedeuborgians — 

1850 5,600 

1860 15,395 

1870 18,755 

Presbyterians  (regular)— 

1850 2,079,765 

1860 2,088,838 

1870 2,198,900 

Presbyterians  (other) — 

1850.0......  10,189 

1860 477,111 

1870. 499,344 

Dutch  Reformed — 

1850 182,686 

1860 211,068 

1870 227,228 

German  Reformed — 

1850 160,932 

1860 273,697 

1870 431,700 


Ckurc/ies. 

726 
726 
662 

36 

77 
152 

1,231 
2,128 
2,776 

13,302 
19,883 
21,337 

344 
49 

67 

16 

24: 

171 

21 
58 
61 

4,826 
5,061 
5,683 

32 
1,345 
1,388 

335 

440 
468 

341 

676 

1,145 


Froperty. 

1,713,767 
2,544,507 
3,939,560 

418,000 
1,135,;:500 
5,155,234 

2,909,711 

5,385,179 

14,917,747 

14,825,070 
33,093,371 
69,854,121 

444,167 

227,450 
709,100 

87,780 
891,100 
656,750 

115,100 
321,200 
869,700 

14,543,789 
24,227,359 
47,828,732 

27,500 
2,613,166 
5,436,524 

4,116,270 

4,453,850 

10,359,255 

993,780 
2,422,670 

5,775,215 


632 


APPENDIX. 

Years.            Membership.  CJmrches.  Property. 
Catholic — 

1850 667,863  1,222  9,256,758 

1860 1,404,437  2,550  26,744,119 

1870 1,990,514  3,806  60,985,566 

Second  Advent — 

1850 5,250  25  11,100 

1860 17,123  70  101,170 

1870 34,555  140  306,240 

Shakers — 

1850 5,150  11  39,500 

1860 5,200  12  41,000 

1870 8,850  18           •  86,900 

Spiritualists — 

1860 6,275  17  7,500 

1870 6,970  22  100,150 

Unitarians —  ' 

1850 138,067  "    245  3,280,822 

1860 138,213  264  4,338,316 

1870 155,471  310  6,282,675 

United  Brethren  in  Christ — 

1850 4,650  14  18,600 

1870 265,025  937  1,819,810 

Universal  ists — 

1850 215,115  530  1,778,316 

1860 235,219  664  2,856,095 

1870 210,884  602  5,692,325 


Since   1830  the  foiu*  leading  Protestant  denominations  of  the  city  of 
New  York  compare  as  follows: — 

Tears.  Presbyterian.  Episcopal.  Baptist.  Methodist. 

1830 8,926  2,806  2,931  3,955 

1840 9,412  3,209  4,936  6,175 

1850 10,815  7,374  8,127  7,562 

1860 14,342  8,416  9,211  9,832 

1870 15,842  11,209  11,203  10,621 

1872 15,772  14,163  11,252  10,322 


The  following  table  shows  the  proportion  of  the  leading  denominations 
to  the  population  of  New  York  City,  at  periods  embracing  an  interval  of 
forty  years : — 

Years.  Presbyterian.     Episcopal. 

1830 Iin23  1  in  70 

1870 Iin53  1  in  84 

633 


Baj^tist. 

Methodist. 

lin  67 

lin  49 

lin84 

lin  89 

APPENDIX. 


The  contributions  of  the  leading  denominations  iu  New  York  for  1872, 
were  as  follows: — 

Presbyterians,    $863,000;    Episcopalians,    $747,000;    Baptists,   $190,000; 
Methodists,  $212,000. 


A  table,  exhibiting  the  progress  of  church  building  and  extension,  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  during  thirty-two  years  : — 

1840.  1850.  1860.  1872. 

Baptist 15  28  32  30 

Congregational 2  10  5                5 

Dutch  Keformed 8  15  21  18 

Episcopalian 26  42  49  71 

Friends 5  4  3                3 

Lutheran .' 3  5  7  14 

Methodist  Episcopal 5  31  32  40 

Methodist  (African) 2  4  5                4 

Presbyterian 19  32  43  40 

Eoman  Catholic 7  18  29  41 

Beformed  Presbyterian ...  6  2  5                4 

Synagogues 3  10  17  26 

Unitarian 12  2               3 

Universalist 1  3  4                5 

■dnited  Presbyterian. 1  4  4                7 

Miscellaneous 9  12  20  11 

Total 113  222  278  332 


Statistics  of  the  four  leading  denominations  in  Brooklyn  :— 

Years.  Membeiship.  Churches.        Ratio  to  Po2ndation. 

Presbyterians — 

1865 4,937  16  1  in  02 

1870 5,972  22  1  in  52 

Episcopal — 

1865 6,211  23  1  in  50 

1870 7,127  34  1  in  55 

Baptist — 

1865 4,613  17  1  in  67 

1870 6,812  20  1  in  59 

Methodist — 

1865 7,535  26  1  in  47 

1870 9,035  34  1  in  42 


Interesting  statistics  in  regard  to  Missions: — 

The  American  Board  of  Missions  has  been  established  about  sixty-three 
years.  During  the  first  sixty-two  years  it  has  received  a  grand  total  of 
$14,183,248  65,  or  an  average  per  year  of  $229,084  65.     Up  to  the  year  1868 

634 


APPENDIX. 

the  number  of  converts  was  325,580.  The  cost  of  each  convert  was  there- 
fore 8-i67  56.  The  total  number  of  h^borers  in  the  mission  field  was  1,278. 
The  number  of  missionaries  was  538;  of  missionary  churches,  173,  which 
gave  an  average  of  57  members  and  7  laborers  to  eoch  church.  Diu-ing  six- 
ty-one years  there  was  an  annual  average  gain  of  388  members.  By  statistics 
taken  from  the  EncyclopsJia  Britannica  to  1857,  and  from  statistics  fui'nished 
by  Dr.  Lowry  and  Dr.  Anderson,  from  that  year  to  18G8,  the  total  amount 
spent  on  missions  by  the  supporters  of  the  Protectant  faith  was  $17,276,339. 
The  expenses  of  the  missions  for  the  eleven  years  show  that  the  cost  of  each 
convert  was  $1,311.  The  cost  to  the  Missionary  Union  (American  Baptist) 
per  convert  baptized  is  $55;  the  cost  to  the  Long  Island  Association  is  $141; 
to  the  New  York  Association,  $572;  to  the  Black  Biver  Association,  .$278; 
an  average  of  $430.  The  largest  Asiatic  mission  costs  $43  per  convert  bap- 
tized; to  the  largest  church  in  Brooklyn  the  cost  was  $1,045;  to  the  largest 
church  in  New  York  $840;  to  the  largest  church  in  the  Black  Eiver  Associa- 
tion, $400;  an  average  of  $760.  The  Asiatic  Mission  that  baptized  the 
largest  number  cost  $24  per  convert  baptized;  to  the  church  in  Brooklyn 
that  baptized  the  largest  number  the  cost  was  $154;  to  the  church  in  New 
York,  $110;  to  the  church  in  the  Black  Eiver  Association,  $101;  an  aver- 
age of  $115.  These  figiu-es  refer  solely  to  Baistist  associations  and  churches 
at  home  and  abroad. 

635 


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